Start here

Traxlate translates on your own device. The browser tab, the desktop app and the phone app all run the same translation engine locally, so the text you translate is never sent to us. That is the whole idea, and it shapes how the first run works.

The one-time download

Translation needs a language pack: the model file the engine reads, plus a small checker that reviews each sentence. Together they are a one-time download of about 1.2 to 1.5 GB depending on your device's memory — the install prompt shows the exact size for yours — kept on your device once downloaded and used offline from then on. Until they are installed there is nothing to translate with, so the home box opens with Get your language pack as its first action, and Settings has Install. Press it, watch the progress line, and keep the tab or app open until it says the pack is ready; the progress line tells you how much is left.

The desktop app also fetches the engine itself (a few MB on macOS, about 25 MB on Windows and Linux where it ships its own graphics backend). All of it lives in one folder you can remove from Settings.

Your first translation

Type or paste into the box, pick the target language, and press Translate (or Ctrl+Enter). The first run after installing loads the pack into memory, which the status line reports as "Loading the translator — first run only" with a clock. Expect anywhere from a few seconds to about a minute in a browser — it depends mostly on how fast your device reads the pack back from storage on that particular load, which varies even on one machine — and about two seconds on the phone apps. It is the longest wait you will have with Traxlate, and later runs skip it entirely. Sentences appear one by one as they finish. Each sentence is drafted, checked and, where the checker is not satisfied, redrafted; the line under the box says which step it is on, and Stop ends the run while keeping the sentences already finished.

Where to go from here

• Language packs — sizes, where files live, removing and reinstalling.
• How private is it, exactly — what runs where, and the two cases where something does leave your device.
• Documents, PDF, Pictures and camera — the same engine on files.
• Glossary and translation memory — making it use your terms.
• When something goes wrong.

Do I need an account?

No. Translation, packs, glossary and history all work without one. An account exists for the Pro subscription and for syncing your glossary between devices, both optional.

Does it work offline?

Yes, once the language pack is installed. The download itself needs a connection; nothing after it does.

Which languages?

The languages listed in the picker — the same list on every platform. A language that is not in the picker is not supported, and we do not print a bigger number than that.