The content you create in Word 2010 is probably not for your eyes alone. Chances are, the files you create will be shared with many colleagues—perhaps both in your country and around the world. Today our growing global marketplace offers us opportunities to work with teams, vendors, and clients almost any place in the world. Past limitations like geography, time, and access don’t hold us back anymore—now we can send files by e-mail or over the Web and translate our text into almost any language imaginable.
Part of the design strategy of Word 2010 is to make it easier for users like you to share your files and collaborate with colleagues no matter where in the world they are located. The translation tools in Word 2010 build on this sharing strategy by offering you a variety of ways with which you can translate words, phrases, or even entire documents. What’s more, you can customize the help information and ScreenTips in Word so that users accustomed to other languages can find their way around in the documents you create and share.
In this chapter, you learn how to use Word 2010 to communicate with others who might be using other languages. You also find out how to use the Mini Translator and other translation tools to convert content on the fly. Finally, you discover how to choose the translation services you use and find out about other translation tools available to help you and the colleagues you share documents with around the world.
Word 2010 offers you a variety of flexible translation options you can use to translate content and change the language displayed in the Word window, including the following:
Translate selected words, phrases, or sections
Translate entire documents
Research translation options
Change the language used in Word help screens
Provide ScreenTips in another language
So whether you are preparing a document you plan to translate and share with others, translating a document from another language you will use yourself, or changing the Word window to help those who use another language find their way around, Word 2010 has language features to help you complete your translation tasks.
Tip
By default you can use translation features installed with your version of Microsoft Word 2010 when you translate words and phrases on the fly. You can choose from WorldLingo, an online translation utility, and Microsoft Translator, for translation options. To learn more about your choices, see the section titled Changing and Adding Translation Services.
Note
Displaying the Word 2010 ScreenTips in a different language requires that you download and install Microsoft Office ScreenTip Language. You can download the utility in 32-bit or 64-bit versions (download the version that corresponds with your version of Word 2010), to display ScreenTips in any of the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Microsoft Office ScreenTip Language is available for Word 2010, Excel 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Publisher 2010, and Visio Professional 2010. You can download additional languages from the Microsoft Download Center.
The process of adding and setting up languages to work with the translation features in Word 2010 is fairly simple, but there are a few steps you need to complete:
Choose the language you want to add.
Download the Microsoft Office 2010 Language Pack if necessary.
Enable the language.
Choose whether you want the language to be used in the user interface and help windows and in ScreenTips.
Tip
Another option you can choose when working with languages in Word 2010 involves setting up the keyboard to reflect the language you are using. This enables you to use characters, accents, and punctuation that are a part of that particular language.
Your first step in preparing Word 2010 to work with the languages you want involves telling it what those languages are. You use Word Options to install the languages so that they will be available when you’re working on your document. Here are the steps for adding an editing language to Word 2010:
Open the document you want to use.
On the Review tab, click Language in the Language group.
Click Language Preferences.
The Language page of the Word Options dialog box appears, as Figure 9-1 shows.
Click the Add Additional Editing Languages arrow, select the language from the list, and then click Add.
The language appears in the Choose Editing Language list. Note that you can click Not Installed to download and install the Microsoft Office 2010 Language Pack if necessary.
Word 2010 automatically uses the spelling dictionary of the selected language when you translate or enter content in another language. You can change the language used or choose not to check the spelling in the language if that’s your preference. Here are the steps for indicating your choice:
On the Review tab, click Language in the Language group.
Click Set Proofing Language. The Language dialog box appears (see Figure 9-2).
Check the languages in use with the proofing tools.
If you want to bypass using the language to check spelling and grammar, select the Do Not Check Spelling Or Grammar check box.
Click OK to save your settings.
Figure 9-2. Let Word 2010 know whether you want to use the additional languages to check spelling and grammar in your document.
Tip
In the Languages dialog box you can also set up Word to automatically detect the language you type. This comes in handy, for example, when you use more than one language in a single document. Word can change the language (and the accompanying spelling and grammar dictionaries) when it sees that you have begun entering content in a different language.
Of course working with files sent to you in other languages involves more than simply reading them—you might need to edit, revise, or add to those documents as well. For this reason you might want to customize your keyboard to suit the language you are using. This enables you to work with what might be a familiar key layout and have access to characters unique to the alphabet and language you are using.
Tip
If you want to see what other keyboards look like before you add them to your system, use the Windows Keyboard Layouts tool from MSDN’s Go Global Developer Center (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964651.aspx). Select the keyboard of the country you want to see and click Go; the site displays the keyboard for that language in a popup window.
You can make different keyboards available through Word Options, although this feature is really an aspect of the Windows 7 or Windows Vista operating system. Begin by displaying Word Options (either by clicking File and choosing Options or by clicking Language Preferences in the Language group on the Review tab). Then follow these steps to add a keyboard for your particular language:
Click the Language category in the Word Options dialog box if necessary.
In the box at the top of the window, click the Not Enabled link in the Keyboard Layout column for the language keyboard you want to add.
The Text Services and Input Languages dialog box appears (see Figure 9-3).
Click the Add button.
In the Add Input Languages dialog box, scroll to the language you want to add and click the + sign (the plus symbol) to display additional options.
Click the + sign next to Keyboard to expand the options then select the check boxes of the items you want to add.
Click Other and select the check box of any additional items you want to add—for example, Ink support, as shown in Figure 9-4.
Click OK twice to return to the document.
Now you can choose different keyboards as you work, which, coincidentally enough, is the subject of the next section.
Once you’ve installed and enabled the language keyboards you want to use in Word 2010, you can switch among them by clicking the language indicator in the status bar, to the right of the Word Count indicator.
You can also display the Windows Language Bar by clicking the language indicator in the system tray and choosing Show The Language Bar. This positions the Language Bar at the top of your document.
You can now change the language in use by clicking the language selection in the Language Bar. Select the new language from the list that appears (see Figure 9-5).
Figure 9-5. You can choose the language you want to use in the Language bar or let Word detect the language automatically.
Tip
If you want to take a look at the keyboard you’re currently using, click the Start button, point to All Programs, choose Accessories, click Ease Of Access, and then On-Screen Keyboard. Your current keyboard is displayed on the screen so that you can see the key configuration. You can also type characters by clicking the keys on the on-screen keyboard if you choose.
Changing the Language Bar
When you add new languages and keyboard configurations to Word 2010, the Language Bar includes those options so that you can switch among your choices easily. The Language Bar is actually part of your Windows operating system, so the changes you make will be reflected in all the Office 2010 programs you use.
You can change the Language Bar settings by right-clicking the bar and choosing Settings from the displayed list (as shown in the following illustration). There, you can change the way items are displayed, alter the configuration of the Language Bar, or close the bar if you no longer need it.
The Mini Translator is a new feature in Word 2010 that makes it easy for you to translate words and phrases as you work in your documents. The Mini Translator comes in handy, for example, when you want to include select phrases in a second language or you want to include a note to a client or colleague in his or her native language. You can easily translate text in your document, copy and paste the selected text, or even have the text read aloud for you so that you know how to pronounce it.
Your first step involves choosing the language you want to use with the Mini Translator. On the Review tab, click Translate in the Language group. Click Choose Translation Language. The Choose Translation Language dialog box appears (see Figure 9-6); click the Translate To arrow, choose the language you want to use from the list that appears, and then click OK.
Now you are ready to use the Mini Translator tool. Click the Translate tool in the Language group a second time then click Mini Translator. The Mini Translator pops up over the document window, offering a translation of the text you’ve selected (if you didn’t select any text before choosing Mini Translator, it translates the word at the cursor position). The translation appears in the window at the top of the box; a set of tools beneath the translation offers ways to find out more about the translated content or copy it so that you can use it in your document (see Figure 9-7). Table 9-1 lists the various tools you’ll find in the Mini Translator.
Figure 9-7. The Mini Translator pops up in your document window with a translation of the word at the cursor position or the text you’ve selected.
When you click the Expand tool, Word 2010 opens the Research task pane, providing additional information about the translation you’ve selected (see Figure 9-8). Also in the Research task pane, you can choose to set translation options, translate to a different language, and choose the references you want to use to find more information.
Inside Out: Get Real-Time Definitions as You Work
If translating text isn’t a big need for you right now, you can still use the Mini Translator to your advantage. You can use the Mini Translator to display definitions and usage information from the Encarta Dictionary.
To change the content of the Mini Translator, click Translate in the Language group on the Review tab. Click Choose Translation Language, and in the Translation Language Options dialog box, click the Translate To arrow and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the list. Click Encarta Dictionary then click OK. Now the Mini Translator displays information about the word at the cursor position, as shown in the following:
Tip
If you use the Mini Translator often, consider adding it to the Quick Access Toolbar so that you can turn it on and off easily. On the Review tab, click Translate in the Language group, and then right-click Mini Translator. Choose Add To Quick Access Toolbar, and the tool appears at the right end of the toolbar in the top-left corner of the screen.
Depending on the nature of your document, you might want to change only a selected section or two. Perhaps you’re creating a product catalog for prospective clients in another culture. You might want to include a paragraph that tells a little bit about your company in the clients’ native language. You can translate those opening paragraphs by using the Mini Translator tool (which is fine for small amounts of text), or you can use the Translate Selected Text tool in the Translate list to make the translation for you and display additional resources about the translated content.
The great thing about using Translate Selected Text is that it gives you additional options that might weigh into the final translation you ultimately use in your document. When you select the text you want to translate, choose Translate Selected Text on the Review tab; the Research task pane appears, in which you can click Insert to add the translation directly to your document. The Research task pane also contains links to additional resources you can use to research further (see Figure 9-9).
If you’re putting together a document that will be shared with colleagues in another country—or you’ve received a proposal in a different language that you need to translate—you can use Word’s Translate Document tool to translate the entire document. By default this service uses the WorldLingo translation tool and shows both versions of the document—the original language and the translated version you specify—in your browser window. If you click the link that lets you know translation updates are available, the system will update to Microsoft Translator, which is a comprehensive online translation tool being offered by Microsoft.
Caution
Be aware that when you translate the entire document using WorldLingo, you are sending the document to an online service. For this reason, avoid sending information that might be considered confidential in your company and, if you’re in doubt about the security needed for a specific document, be sure to ask your administrator before translating the file using this option.
Begin by opening the document you want to translate. Then on the Review tab, click Translate in the Language group. Choose Translate Document. (If you want to change the translation language, click Choose Translation Language before you select Translate Document.)
Word alerts you that in order to complete the translation, your document will be sent to an online service. Click Send to continue. The document appears in your browser window, translated into the language you selected (see Figure 9-10).
When you first install Word 2010, you’ll discover that WorldLingo and Microsoft Translation are the two translation services that are used to translate words, phrases, and documents as you work. You can select the translation service the program uses or choose one that is not listed by default. This means you can add custom services or even create your own dictionary or online translation utility to meet your particular document translation needs. You can customize the translation services in all core Office 2010 applications.
To change the Word 2010 translation service, follow these steps:
On the Review tab, in the Proofing group, click Research.
The Research task pane appears (if it wasn’t already displayed).
Click the arrow to the right of the reference field then choose Translation (see Figure 9-11).
Click Translation Options in the list area.
The Translation Options dialog box appears, offering two lists of translation choices. The top of the dialog box lists translations used in the bilingual dictionary resident on your computer, and the second list suggests language pairs available through the machine translation service you select.
Select the check box of each language pair you want to translate.
For each of the selected language pairs, click the arrow and choose the translation service you want to use (see Figure 9-12).
After you’ve made all your selections, click OK to save your changes.
You can add a new translation service to those available in the Translation Options dialog box by displaying the Research task pane and clicking Research Options at the bottom of the pane. In the Research options dialog box, you can review all the research services currently being used by your version of Word. At the bottom of the dialog box, click Add Services (see Figure 9-13).
In the Add Services dialog box, click in the Address box and type the Web address of the service you’d like to use. This could be another subscription translation service available online or a service you’ve created and posted on your company intranet.
Click Add to include the service in the list of providers available in the Translation Options dialog box. Now you will be able to choose the new service from the list when you make translation choices for language pairs. When you choose a language by using Choose Translation Language in the Translate list, Word will automatically use the service you’ve assigned to the language pair you want to translate.
As you begin to expand the number of languages you use to relate with clients and colleagues around the world, it is likely that at some point you’ll need to explore working with bidirectional text. A number of languages—most notably, Arabic, Persian, and Hebrew—begin writing at the right side of the page and move to the left. This is known as RTL (right-to-left); languages like English are known as LTR (left-to-right).
When you are creating a document that includes both RTL and LTR text, you need to be able to make choices about the direction of the text. When you install Arabic, Persian, or Hebrew in Word 2010, additional bidirectional features become available that you can use to control the way the text is displayed in the document. Here are some of the features you might want to change if you work with bidirectional text:
Change paragraph flow. New tools appear in the Paragraph group on the Home tab, with which you can change the direction of paragraph text. The tools appear as paragraph marks with small arrows, indicating text direction.
Add color to diacritics. On the Advanced tab of the Word Options dialog box, you can apply color to diacritics. Diacritics are the small marks that accent a character in an alphabet. You can instruct Word 2010 to add color to the diacritical marks by selecting the Diacritics check box and choosing the color you want to apply.
Document view. Also on the Advanced tab of the Word Options dialog box, you can set the Document View setting to control whether the text is displayed from left-to-right (LTR) or right-to-left (RTL).
Section direction. You can set the text direction in the current section. Choose Layout in the Page Setup group on the Page Layout tab then choose Section Direction.
Table properties. You can change the direction of text in table cells by right-clicking the table and choosing Table Properties. Change the Table Direction field at the bottom of the dialog box to change the flow of table text.
If you regularly work with Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, you can use Word’s Document Grid to help you control line and character placement in your documents. You can work with Document Grid settings in the Page Setup dialog box. Begin on the Page Layout tab and click the dialog launcher in the bottom-right corner of the Page Setup group. In the Page Setup dialog box, select the Document Grid tab (see Figure 9-14). Note that the Document Grid will appear only if you have installed one of these languages.
The Document Grid tab is where you control the text flow, number of columns, number of characters per line, character pitch (which is the spacing between characters), number of lines per page, and line pitch. To use the Document Grid features, follow these steps:
On the Page Layout tab, click the Page Setup dialog launcher to open the Page Setup dialog box, and then select the Document Grid tab.
If you want the text to be shown vertically (appearing top to bottom as you type), in the Text Flow area, click Vertical. Otherwise, for traditional right-to-left text display, leave Horizontal selected.
You can enter a number of columns in the Columns box if you are working with a multicolumn document. Notice that the Preview image adjusts to display your page setup settings while you work.
To turn on the Grid feature, select one of the following options:
Specify Line Grid Only. Makes only the settings in the Lines area on the Document Grid tab available so that you can choose the amount of space between lines (by selecting the number of lines you want to appear on the page) and the pitch, or spacing, between lines.
Specify Line And Character Grid. Makes all settings in both Character and Lines areas available. This setting enables you to choose both the number of characters per line and the number of lines per page. You can also choose the pitch of both characters and lines.
Text Snaps To Character Grid. Disables the Pitch settings and gives you the means to choose the number of characters per line and lines per page.
Click the Apply To arrow, choose the option that specifies the portion of the document to which you want to apply the grid, and then click OK.
If you changed the text direction on the Document Grid tab for the entire document, Word automatically updates any existing content after you click OK. If you retained the original text direction prior to the cursor and applied the This Point Forward setting, Word applies the grid effects for existing and new content from the point of the cursor’s location forward. If necessary, Word begins a new page to separate content with different formats.
You can display the drawing grid on your page to help you align objects and text, regardless of your language settings. To toggle the display of gridlines, simply navigate to the View tab and, in the Show group, click Gridlines.
If you installed support for East Asian languages, click the Drawing Grid button on the Document Grid tab in the Page Setup dialog box to access the drawing grid settings. Or on the Page Layout tab, in the Arrange group, click Align then click Grid Settings. Figure 9-15 displays the Drawing Grid dialog box.
Because of our growing global economy and the reach of the World Wide Web, translation tools are more in demand than ever, and this means that new tools are being developed all the time. When you are working with others who are translating to English, they can use the Microsoft Research ESL Assistant to ensure that their English translation is as accurate and understandable as possible. You’ll find Microsoft Research ESL Assistant at www.eslassistant.com (see Figure 9-16). The service looks for common translation mistakes (such as pronouns and prepositions) and suggests corrections.
Figure 9-16. Microsoft Research ESL Assistant helps you weed out translation mistakes before you share your document with others.
Tip
You can also access the Microsoft Research ESL Assistant and Microsoft Engkoo through the Research task pane when you have selected Translate options.
Microsoft Engkoo is a research tool provided by Microsoft Research Asia that enables you to search and translate words and phrases in Asian languages. Go to www.engkoo.com to use the Web-based tool to search, translate, and correct your text (see Figure 9-17).
Now that you know how to translate the text you receive and share with colleagues and clients in other cultures, you’re ready to dive deeper into the accuracy of the documents you create. The next chapter shows you how to use a variety of proofing tools to make sure that your document is in great shape—whether you want to want to run the spelling checker, assess your grammar, or expand your word use with the Word thesaurus. Along the way, you’ll also find out how to incorporate references and bibliographies to provide even more resources for interested readers.