Can Claude translate a document?

How to translate with Claude

1. Attach the file or paste the text. Click the + button in the chat box and choose Add files or photos, or drag the file into the chat[2].
2. Name both languages. Anthropic's own example is to translate from German to Korean and respond with only the translation[1].
3. Ask for the format you need. With Code execution and file creation turned on in Settings, Capabilities, Claude can create a Word document you download[3].

Anthropic's tips for multilingual work are to state the input and output language, to submit text in its native script rather than a transliteration, and to keep cultural and regional context in mind[1].

Which languages does Claude translate?

Anthropic says Claude processes input and generates output in most world languages that use standard Unicode characters, and that performance varies by language, with the strongest results in widely spoken languages[1]. Its benchmark table covers 15 languages, among them Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Japanese, plus Swahili and Yoruba[1].

LoreAI translates into 105 languages and detects the source language by itself, so you choose only the target.

What happens with a scanned PDF?

A scanned PDF has no text layer. Each page is a picture of the paper. Anthropic says Claude analyzes both text and visual elements in PDFs of 100 pages or fewer, and that for PDFs from 101 to 1000 pages it processes text only and does not analyze visual elements[2]. Files in a project are text extraction only, except for multimodal PDFs[2].

For images, Claude takes JPEG, PNG, GIF and WebP[2], so convert an iPhone HEIC photo before you upload it. LoreAI takes PDF, JPG, PNG and HEIC, reads every page with OCR, including stamps and handwriting, and translates the text in the same job.

Claude and LoreAI side by side

When to use Claude and when to use LoreAI

• Use Claude to understand a passage, ask what a term means in context, or rewrite a translation in a different tone.
• Use Claude when you want to talk through a contract clause or a letter in your own language.
• Use LoreAI when you have a scanned certificate, a transcript, a stack of phone photos or a handwritten letter and want the whole thing back as one translated Word file, with tables and the original order kept.
• Use LoreAI when the names on the document are in another script. Names, dates and numbers stay as written, and names in non-Latin scripts are romanized.

A chat is built for conversation. A document job is built for the file. LoreAI returns headings, lists and tables in the original order, so a translated birth certificate has the same fields as the original.

Certified translations

Neither tool gives you a certified translation. LoreAI is not a certified translation service. If an office asks for a certified or sworn translation, the guide to getting a certified translation covers who signs it and what to send. For other assistants and tools, see ChatGPT for documents and DeepL vs Google Translate.

Questions people ask