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      How to translate English content to German in Slack

      Translate text in different languages from within Slack.

      Usage

      Slack can now translate our English messages to German. There are two core ways to enable translations: 

      1. Automation Channel Translation [Recommended]: Automatically translate specific channels based on your preference. 
      2. Manual Translation: Optionally translate messages from any other channels if necessary.

      Automatic Channel Translation

      Mention @translate to bring up a menu of buttons. Choose the [Settings] button to setup or edit the automatic translation settings for that channel.

      Language: Choose the language you want to translate into, and the Display Format. This affects how the translation appears in the channel.

      Display Format: 

      1. Source First will show the message in your language first, with the translation appearing below.
      2. Replace will completely replace the message in your language with the translated version. 
      3. Translation First will show the translated message first, with the original source text below. While the Replace option is the cleanest, the other options may help provide context for you as you review past conversations (since they include the original text in your language). You can change these settings at any time. Repeat for each channel as desired.

      Translate Direct Message (D M)

      You can also setup automatic translation on a Direct Message (DM), but the @translate bot needs to be part of the DM. To do this, create a new DM that includes both @translate and the person you want to DM with. Now this new DM includes @translate, so the bot can perform auto-translations. Within the new DM, mention @translate to get the menu buttons, choose [Settings], etc., as described above.

      Manual Translation

      use the `/translate` slash command to to translate any text in any language.

      The `Translate Text` shortcut will bring up a form that you can use to enter or paste text in any language, to be translated in your chosen language (see image below).

      For example, you can paste text in another language and translate it to your language, or you can enter text in your own language to translate into another language, which you can optionally copy/paste or post into a channel or DM.

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      Example of manual translation: