Most people bump up against this scenario once or twice. You're browsing the Web happily enough, then you click a link and - whammo - a non-English page pops up, and your pleasant browse comes to a screeching halt, because whatever language the page is in, you can't read it. Well, as seems so often to be the case, Google to the rescue. Say hello to the "To English" bookmarklet.
There are other ways, even some that are automated, to translate pages, but this is by far the simplest tool I've found. The bookmarklet is just a bit of JavaScript that takes advantage of the Google Translate service. Here, try it for yourself. Just click and hold on the "To English" below, and drag it to your bookmarks or favorites bar:
Load up a non-English page, say the homepage of Le Monde, then click To English in your bookmarks/favorites bar. Google Translate kicks in, and presents you the page in English, as shown below.
Perhaps you're not a native English speaker, and prefer your quick translations to some other language. Google Translate can help there, as well. Their Tools page offers bookmarklets for translating to 42 different language, including Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Russian, and Thai. The procedure for using these bookmarklets is the same -- click, drag and drop.
Disclaimer: This tool relies on services and technologies not provided or controlled by ITS. We'll try to make it work, but if Google breaks or discontinues it, it's beyond our help.
(via Lifehacker)
