The 15 Best Translation Software for Linux System in 2020

With the development of technology, the world has become a
global village. The only barrier you can mention is the language.
No matter whether we use the best translation software or not, we
still rely on human translators mostly for language localization.
But the management and documentation can not be done easily without
the help of computers. The open source translation tools play a
great role in this scenario.

The tools are called translation software doesn’t mean they will
automatically translate the language for you. Rather most of these
tools are more of translation management tools. They will automate
the human translation process when needed for maximizing the
efficiency of the translator. The confusing part is you can not
grossly say which is the best translation software. You have to
choose the best one according to your personal or organization’s
needs.

Best Translation Software for
Linux

---

Most of the translation tools are available for enterprise
users, and they run on a server. But if you want to use software
that can natively run on your desktop, then the options are very
limited. But you will be glad to hear that a few quality Linux
translation tools are available on the internet for free. These
open source translation tools will help you to localize any of your
projects right onto your desktop. Here we have enlisted the 15 best
translation software for Linux that are worth checking out.

1. OmegaT

---

OmegaT is a translation memory or TM tool for assisting in the
translation process. It is a free and open source translation tool.
This software was originally written in C++. Later, the codebase
was replaced with the Java programming language. This is why Java
IDE is needed to be installed to run this software.

Currently, OmegaT is one of the best translation software
available for Linux. This tool is available in almost 500
languages. Many enterprises rely on this excellent piece of a
computer program because it has a lot of computer-aided translation
or CAT tools built-in.

Key Features of OmegaT

• It can translate multiple file-formats simultaneously located
  in different subfolders.
• This tool helps the users to customize the file types and
  encodings. Besides, it supports partial translations from different
  types of documents.
• OmegaT supports match propagation and fuzzy matching for the
  convenience of the translation process.
• This tool can integrate with Google Translate and other popular
  machine translation services.
• The tag validation feature is very helpful for locating
  unwanted tag errors.
• The advanced text editor has many useful features like copy,
  paste, undo, redo, and sentence case changing.
• It shows tutorial vide at startup that helps the beginners to
  get started.

Download^[1]

2. Anaphraseus

---

Anaphraseus is a great open source translation tool. Apart from
running on GNU and FreeBSD^[2], this Linux translation
software is also available for other popular operating systems.
This is a Computer-Aided Translation or CAT tools. This tool
functions as a memory tool for helping human translators. But this
tool has additional functionalities that enable it to perform as a
machine translator by using third party services.

One thing you have to remember that this tool is not a
stand-alone tool. You have to keep installed OpenOffice or
LibreOffice suite to run this software properly. This is also
available as an extension or macro set for OpenOffice and
LibreOffice. This tool has got a great forum where you may get
technical assistance.

Key Features of Anaphraseus

• It supports fuzzy search, just like other translation memory
  tools. This feature helps to locate a relevant object even when the
  keyword doesn’t match exactly.
• Text segmentation, as well as terminology recognition, are
  great additions to the feature of Anaphraseus.
• Originally it supported only TM format. But now it supports
  exporting in TMX format, which is used by one of the most popular
  translation tools OmegaT.
• Office suite integration helps the users to format the
  translated documents easily.
• If you need the assistance of machine translators like Google
  Translate, you can even integrate Anaphraseus with that.

Download^[3]

3. EsperantiloTM

---

EsperantiloTM is a remastered piece of the original software
named Esperantilo. It is quite dated software. The original
Esperantilo was a translation tool for the Esperantilo language. It
contained dictionaries, grammar checkers, and other components of
the Esperantilo language.

As the original Esperantilo was an open source translation tool,
the developers extracted the powerful translation memory tool from
it and built this amazing memory tool for professional translators.
It can now be used with any pair of languages. Esperantilo TM is
small, light, easy to use and can be run on any variant of
Linux.

Key Features of Esperantilo

• This tool supports various file formats including HTML, XML,
  TMX, etc. It also supports files from the OpenOffice suite.
• The main feature of this software is the powerful translation
  memory tool that is capable of helping human translators with a
  huge pile of data.
• It has great integration with other best translation software
  for Linux for easier workflow.
• The customizable translation memory can be edited by the author
  so that it works best for the most natural translation between
  languages.

Download^[4]

4. Virtaal

---

Virtaal is yet another powerful translation memory tool. This
Linux translation software has got some amazing features apart from
language localization. The name Virtaal is derived from an
Afrikaans word, which means “for language” or “translation.” This
document translation tool is completely free, and thus it is very
popular among professional translators.

The user interface of this program is very clean and minimal.
The tabular format displays the sentence segments in a very
intuitive way that increases the productivity of human translators.
It can even machine translate any language and perform quality
checks by connecting with the third party services.

Key Features of Virtaal

• It can integrate with Translate Toolkit from the same
  developers and perform multiple format translations in a single
  dashboard.
• The clutter-free control panel is worth mentioning features
  that can hide unnecessary modules so that the translators can work
  seamlessly.
• Originally it supported only XLIFF and PO translation formats.
  Later this tool improved vastly and got support for many popular
  file formats.
• This tool has got some advanced functionalities like frequent
  use case optimization for better user experience.

Download^[5]

5. Lokalize

---

Lokalize is a proprietary program for the KDE desktop environment. But it can be
used in any distro of Linux. It released as a part of the KDE
Applications suite. It is the successor of the popular program
KBabel. It is used for the localization of KDE and other types of
open source software. ^[6]

This translation memory tool has some unique features. It is not
a machine translation tool. Rather it is more like a Computer-Aided
Translation of CAT tool that is intended to assist the human
translators in preventing translation errors. You can compile and
install this tool from the KDE trunk with an easy process.

Key Features of Lokalize

• OpenDocument files that have ODT format can be translated
  directly through this software.
• It has an additional feature to extract the texts to
  translation memory compatible formats to localize the strings.
• After translating, it can export the XLIFF format to the
  original OpenDocument format that saves a lot of time.
• You can drag and drop the translation strings directory to the
  translation memory tab of this software, and it will automatically
  update the database.

Download ^[7]

6. Swordfish

---

Swordfish is a translation editor software for Linux. It
is a java based XLIFF editor tool. This tool is so powerful that it
is always a top choice for professional translators. This tool has
got a fast and fluid internal database server and support for an
external remote server. These additions make it a great translation
memory tool.

The free version of this tool is trial-based, and after a
certain period, you have to opt-in for the paid service. The paid
service is a costly plan, but the features of this tool make it
worth paying for. Besides, cross-platform capability and customer
support are bonus achievements for one of the best translation
software.

Key Features of Swordfish

• It supports the translation memory exchange of created
  CAT data by using the XML standard.
• This tool supports integrating with third-party database
  engines for storing translation strings.
• Swordfish supports numerous file formats, including plain
  text, HTML, XML, etc.
• It is compatible with other popular translation memory
  and computer-aided translation tools and their respective file
  formats.
• The user interface is fully customizable, including
  fonts, colors, etc.
• The translation engine included in this software suite is
  capable of connecting with the third party services using easy to
  access APIs.

Download ^[8]

7. Heartsome TMX Editor

---

Heartsome TMX Editor is an excellent translation memory
exchange tool. This tool is free for Linux based distros, and the
source code of this open source translation tool is available on
the Github. It has many powerful features related to computer-aided
translation. If you want to manage and maintain translation memory
in a professional way, then this is a great choice.

Heartsome TMX Editor is currently on its 8.0 stable
version. It requires Java Runtime Environment preinstalled on your
Linux PC to run smoothly. This Linux translation software even
supports all other major platforms so that memories created on one
platform can be used seamlessly on another.

Key Features of Heartsome TMX Editor

• It doesn’t have any memory limits, and thus this tool can
  work with large TMX files.
• You can apply and edit different filters for the ease of
  querying from huge piles of TMX data.
• You can work with a lot of file formats in this tool. The
  file formats can be converted to and from different types of
  generic text-based formats.
• Batch editing is a great feature that can improve the
  workflow of the translator team.

Download ^[9]

8. Wordfast
Professional

---

Wordfast Professional is a veteran tool in the translation
sector. Many professional translators rely on this translation
memory software. It is the successor of the popular Windows tool
Wordfast Classic. Wordfast classic is still a great piece of
software for Windows users.

Though it was compatible with Linux, the setup needed a
lot of workarounds. Besides, Wordfast classic is dependent on
Microsoft Word. But the modern Wordfast Professional got over all
these drawbacks. It is based on Java and natively compatible with
Linux. So, this standalone translation tool for Linux is very
helpful for the translator community.

Key Features of Wordfast Professional

• You can filter the sentence segmentation based on
  different attributes like notes, match scores, terms,
  etc.
• This tool allows translating the project into multiple
  languages from a single dashboard simultaneously.
• Wordfast Professional can seamlessly import and export
  translation memory files for using with the teammates.
• The Machine translation feature is a great addition to
  this tool. Whenever it doesn’t find any matching, it will search
  for the string in third party machine translation
  services.
• It supports a variety of file formats including HTML,
  XML, TTX, XLIFF, etc.

Download ^[10]

9. DeepL Translator
CLI

---

DeepL Translator CLI is a machine translation tool for
Linux. It is a command line-based tool for making the translation
process easier right on your desktop. For this reason, it doesn’t
give much stress to the system. DeepL is a European tech company
that originally developed an online tool with its best translation
software engine.

Later an individual developer released a command-line tool
based on DeepL under open source MIT license and hosted on Github.
The tool is free to use, but the developer kept the subscription
model open for the users who are willing to pay. You have installed
the latest version of Node.js to run this tool properly on your
Linux system.

Key Features of DeepL Translator CLI

• It supports many European languages, including German,
  French, Italian, etc.
• This tool can automatically detect input language and
  translate it accordingly.
• It is directly connected with the DeepL online tool for
  powerful translation feature.
• The base tool runs on a supercomputer that enables this
  command-line client to translate in a blink.

Download^[11]

10. Translate Shell

---

Translate Shell is a Linux translation software based on
the command line user interface. This tool was previously known as
Google Translate CLI. This tool is simple yet very powerful. It
supports any distro of Linux with additional support for Windows
and even Android.

This tool supports third-party services like Google
Translate, Bing Translator, Yandex Translate, etc. for accurate
machine translations. The developer has provided detailed
documentation on their official webpage for the
beginners.

Key Features of Translate
Shell

• This tool can identify the input language automatically
  and translate it to your default native language.
• The number of supported languages is theoretically
  unlimited because this tool will provide you an up to date result
  whenever the third party translator engine updates their
  database.
• Translate Shell has dictionary mode to show you the
  meaning of any word.
• It has a built-in text to speech engine that is very
  convenient.
• You can even specify a webpage URL or local file path so
  that it can translate that file.

Download^[12]

11. Translatium

---

Translatium is lightweight translation software for Linux.
It is an open source translation tool where the source code is
hosted on Github. But the fun fact is that the developer charges a
certain fee for the license of this software.

The license will never expire, and once bought, you can
use it with an unlimited number of devices regardless of the
platform. This tool supports real-time translation of words,
phrases, and sentences in almost a hundred languages.

Key Features of Translatium

• This tool can automatically identify source text
  language, just like any other translation tool.
• You can import a photo into this tool, and it will
  translate the text on that photo.
• If you use this tool regularly, you can even customize
  the look and feel of the user interface.
• The advanced text to speech engine is here to help you
  with listening to the translations.

Download^[13]

12. Crow Translate

---

Crow Translation is an open source Linux translation
software based on Google Translate. This tool is built with the
C++ programming language^[14]. The desktop client for
Linux is very lightweight and user friendly. You can translate over
a hundred languages with this powerful tool.

This tool also has built-in Bing and Yandex translator
APIs so that it can connect to their machine translation database.
Being the source code open, you can always customize and compile
your version.

Key Features of Crow Translate

• The user interface is very clean and beautiful, with a
  tabular format.
• You can choose up to three languages as shortcut buttons
  for translating.
• The source text pane and the translated text pane has
  individual text to speech buttons for listening.
• This tool supports proxy servers and uses very little RAM
  compared to Google Translate website running in Google
  Chrome.

Download^[15]

13. Simple Translate

---

As the name suggests, Simple Translate is simply a simple
piece of software. This translation tool for Linux is not
completely ready yet. But it still provides a powerful set of
features. The user interface is divided into two vertical panes for
the translation dashboard.

This tool has an additional dictionary mode built into it.
Though it requires a stable internet connection at the moment to
run, the developer is preparing an offline version for releasing
shortly.

Key Features of Simple
Translate

• It supports a long list of languages, including English,
  German, Spanish, etc.
• The dictionary mode will show you the meaning with some
  grammatical properties of that word.
• This is very lightweight, and hence it uses very little
  computer resources to run.
• The source code is open, and you can build your very own
  version with extra functionalities.

Download^[16]

14. GoldenDict

---

GoldenDict is mainly a dictionary tool for Linux. It is
thus considered a great open source translation tool. This is
probably the most feature-rich dictionary suite for Linux. The
reason why the translators love this program is that it can
translate phrases from a language.

The program is written with C++, and the user interface is
very modern yet clean. This tool supports a wide range of
dictionary file formats, and you can always install downloadable
resources to add up the functionalities.

Key Features of GoldenDict

• This tool can monitor external websites and audio files
  for word meaning and pronunciation.
• You can pack up different types of source files of a
  language into a compressed file format.
• This tool has a global hotkey feature that can translate
  directly when you copy a text into your clipboard.
• The printing and zooming feature are very convenient for
  the professional translator.
• It can represent the articles in exact formats by using
  the same colors and styling.

Download^[17]

15. OpenDict

---

This is yet another dictionary-based Linux translation
software. In the human translating process, the dictionary is a
very important kit. OpenDict is a very popular platform that is
capable of indexing the most common dictionary file
formats.

It has advanced functionality that can convert any
text-based files into a dictionary source. This tool even supports
remote dictionary files by working as a DICT server client. You can
use plugins to extend the features of this tool.

Key Features of OpenDict

• You can customize the UI based on your own choice of
  fonts and colors.
• This tool supports a wide range of character encodings,
  including the most popular Unicode.
• You can access the remote dictionary servers by using
  this tool.
• OpenDict can install additional offline dictionaries from
  source files.
• It can directly translate your copied texts from the
  clipboard.

Download ^[18]

Finally, Insight

---

In most cases, the professional translators and authors are used
to commercial operating systems like Windows and macOS. But there
are a large number of translators who are comfortable using Linux.
This is why Linux developers provide you the best translation
software. Most of the translation tools are cross-platform means
you can use simultaneously any of your devices.

Some of the tools in the above list will aid the human
translators while some of them will quickly perform machine
translations for you. Nowadays, with the development of AI machine
translations are quite reliable. So, it is finally your choice what
type of translation tool you will use for your project. If you have
a favorite Linux translation tool, we missed mentioning you can
remind us in the comment section. Happy translating!