Microsoft Translator technology powers the translations that are delivered inside Office.You can translate snippets of text or entire documents into many languages using this service. You will need to be connected to the internet in order to use this functionality.

Following is a set of frequently asked questions about the translation functionality within Microsoft Office. If you have any technical questions, please post them in our user forums.

[Q1] How do I get support for my language in the research pane?

There is a limit on the number of languages that are presented to the user within Office. Due to this, the Microsoft Translator service intelligently selects the set of languages that are populated within the language selection of the research pane. Let's look at one of our recent languages (Indonesian) to illustrate how this is done.

To get Indonesian translation support in the research pane, you must have the Indonesian LIP (Language Interface Pack) installed and active, or one of the below listed UI languages, and then update the research service (see next FAQ item for instructions on updating the research service).

Now you will have Indonesian as a language to translate from and to.

The Indonesian language translation option shows up with any of these UI languages:

• Indonesian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Malaysian
• Vietnamese
• Chinese
• Filipino
• Hindi and all other languages of India.

[Q2] How do I update the Office research service to include the latest language list from Microsoft Translator?

To update the research service: 

• In the research pane, click “Research options” at the bottom.
• Click “Update/Remove”.
• Select “Microsoft Translator”.
• Click “Update”, then “Continue” and finally “Install”.

A new install of Office automatically updates the research service.