QTranslate for Windows

Quick summary

QTranslate is a free Windows utility that translates selected text into another language and can read the results aloud using an integrated text-to-speech engine. It’s useful for anyone who needs instant translations while working in documents, browsers, or other applications.

How it connects to your apps

The tool works system-wide: highlight text in almost any program and QTranslate will offer translations. It also provides a virtual keyboard for typing characters that aren’t available on your physical keyboard and uses an OCR service to extract text from images for translation.

Engines and services it can query

• youdao
• Promt
• DeepL
• Yandex
• Papago
• Microsoft Translator
• Google Translate
• Baidu
• Babylon

Note: most translation providers require an online connection to fetch results.

Ways the app displays translations

• A popup window that shows the translated text
• A small icon that appears next to the selected text for quick access
• A tabbed view that can also read the translated text aloud

Useful keyboard shortcuts

• Press the Ctrl key twice quickly to open the main window
• Ctrl+Q displays a quick translation in a popup
• Ctrl+E triggers text-to-speech for the selected translation
• Ctrl+Shift+Q runs a dictionary lookup for the selected word

Additional tools and conveniences

• OCR support via OCR.SPACE for recognizing text in images
• Spell checking and word suggestions while typing or translating
• A translation history so you can revisit past lookups

When QTranslate helps the most

If you frequently run into content written in unfamiliar languages while browsing the web or editing files, QTranslate speeds understanding and learning. It’s handy for reading foreign webpages, checking phrases, or expanding vocabulary on the fly.

Suggested alternate option

DimScreen (free) — a lightweight, web-based transcription utility. Because it relies on online services, a stable internet connection is required for it to work.