Telegram Premium: Real-Time Chat Translation

The whole chat, not one message at a time

Every account can translate a single message by long-pressing it; see how to translate messages. With Telegram Premium, a translation bar appears at the top of a chat written in another language. Tap it once and the whole conversation is translated, both the messages already there and the new ones, as you scroll. If you read a foreign-language channel every day, or sit in a group with members from several countries, that saves a long-press on every post.

Translation keeps the shape of a message: links, bold text, quotes and attachments stay where they were. The bar's menu lets you pick a different target language or go back to the original at any time. The other people in the chat are not told that you are reading it translated.

Turning it on

1. Open the Language settings above.
2. Turn on Show Translate Button and Translate Entire Chats.
3. Under Do Not Translate, add every language you already read, so the bar stays away from those chats.
4. Open a chat in another language and tap the bar at the top.

Using it well

Where machine translation goes wrong

Machine translation reads smoothly even when it is wrong, and it is most often wrong about numbers, dates, prices and negatives. A missing "not" turns an instruction into its opposite and still sounds natural. When a translated message asks you to pay, sign, meet or decide something, open the original for the important line, and for agreements repeat the key point back in your own words. More examples are in where Telegram translation goes wrong.

If someone seems unexpectedly rude in translation, check the original before reacting. Politeness and tone are the first things a translation loses.