How to translate Thai documents the free and easy(ish) way

[trevoromgh]

I have tried various tools and techniques to translate Thai printed documents in the past but recently I've discovered the following method which is far more reliable and wanted to share this with other people.

 

The approach uses two free to use Google tools namely Google Drive and Google Docs and if you don't have a Google account already you will need to register initially to enable access to them.  Once you have done this follow these steps:-

 

1. Capture the image of the page of Thai text you wish to be translated into a picture file (e.g. .jpg format) using a scanner or a camera
2. Upload the image to your Google Drive account
3. In the Google Drive app find the record of the uploaded image and right click on it
4. Choose 'Open with > Google Docs' option.  This will create a new document containing the image and extracted text
5. Double click on the newly created document and the Google Docs will be opened showing your document still in Thai
6. Select 'Tools > Translate Document' then enter a name for the file to contain the translated text. Finally select the language you wish it to be translated to i.e. English and click 'Translate'
7. You will then be presented with a document containing an image of the original Thai text and the English translation text
8. You may then edit this document to tidy it by for example deleting the Thai image,  amending text formatting so that it is uniform throughout
9. Save the final translated document and return to Step 1 to do the next page

 

I realise this does seem a long winded process but once you have done one page it becomes a lot easier and faster.  Good luck

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

Is this a better translation  than :

Take a snapshot of Thai print/photo etc.

Edit photo to cut down leaving only desired text.

Open Google translate camera option 

Import last photo 

Scan text

You then have the original Thai text and English version together.

 

 

[trevoromgh]

19 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Is this a better translation  than :

Take a snapshot of Thai print/photo etc.

Edit photo to cut down leaving only desired text.

Open Google translate camera option 

Import last photo 

Scan text

You then have the original Thai text and English version together.

 

 

I've found that the translation used within Google Docs is better than using Google Translate in my opinion which is odd I know but that's my experience.

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 hour ago, trevoromgh said:

I've found that the translation used within Google Docs is better than using Google Translate in my opinion which is odd I know but that's my experience.

 

Okay Trevor, I’ll give it a go.

 

[ChakaKhan]

Finishing off the Avatar trifecta!   cheese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[FritsSikkink]

Google translate is good for single words but useless for longer text.

[trevoromgh]

28 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Google translate is good for single words but useless for longer text.

I agree but the translate tool in Google Docs does seem to work quite nicely so I presume it's different to Google Translate product