> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pixeltable.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
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# Translate text between languages
This documentation page is also available as an interactive notebook. You can launch the notebook in
Kaggle or Colab, or download it for use with an IDE or local Jupyter installation, by clicking one of the
above links.
export const quartoRawHtml = [`
| Content type |
Volume |
Target |
| Product descriptions |
10,000 items |
5 languages |
| Support articles |
500 docs |
3 languages |
| User reviews |
Ongoing |
Spanish, French |
`, `
| title |
text_en |
text_es |
text_fr |
| Welcome Message |
Welcome to our platform! We are excited to have you here. |
¡Bienvenido a nuestra plataforma! Estamos emocionados de tenerte
aquí. |
Bienvenue sur notre plateforme ! Nous sommes ravis de vous avoir
ici. |
| Product Description |
This lightweight laptop features a 14-inch display and all-day
battery life. |
Este portátil liviano cuenta con una pantalla de 14 pulgadas y una
batería de larga duración. |
Cet ordinateur portable léger dispose d'un écran de 14 pouces et
d'une autonomie de batterie toute la journée. |
| Support Article |
To reset your password, click the forgot password link on the login
page. |
Para restablecer tu contraseña, haz clic en el enlace de olvidé mi
contraseña en la página de inicio de sesión. |
Pour réinitialiser votre mot de passe, cliquez sur le lien "mot de
passe oublié" sur la page de connexion. |
`, `
| Strategy |
Benefit |
Use gpt-4o-mini |
Lower cost per translation |
| Cache results |
No re-translation on queries |
| Batch inserts |
Efficient processing |
`];
Automatically translate content into multiple languages using LLMs.
## Problem
You have content that needs to be available in multiple
languages—product descriptions, documentation, user-generated content.
Manual translation is slow and expensive.
## Solution
**What’s in this recipe:**
* Translate text using OpenAI models
* Create multiple language columns from one source
* Handle batch translation efficiently
You add computed columns for each target language. Translations are
generated automatically when you insert new content and cached for
future queries.
### Setup
```python theme={null}
%pip install -qU pixeltable openai
```
```python theme={null}
import getpass
import os
if 'OPENAI_API_KEY' not in os.environ:
os.environ['OPENAI_API_KEY'] = getpass.getpass('OpenAI API Key: ')
```
```python theme={null}
import pixeltable as pxt
from pixeltable.functions.openai import chat_completions
```
```python theme={null}
# Create a fresh directory
pxt.drop_dir('translate_demo', force=True)
pxt.create_dir('translate_demo')
```
Connected to Pixeltable database at: postgresql+psycopg://postgres:@/pixeltable?host=/Users/pjlb/.pixeltable/pgdata
Created directory 'translate\_demo'.
\
### Create translation pipeline
```python theme={null}
# Create table for content
content = pxt.create_table(
'translate_demo/content', {'title': pxt.String, 'text_en': pxt.String}
)
```
Created table 'content'.
```python theme={null}
# Add Spanish translation column
spanish_prompt = (
'Translate the following text to Spanish. Return only the translation, no explanations:\n\n'
+ content.text_en
)
content.add_computed_column(
response_es=chat_completions(
messages=[{'role': 'user', 'content': spanish_prompt}],
model='gpt-4o-mini',
)
)
content.add_computed_column(
text_es=content.response_es.choices[0].message.content
)
```
Added 0 column values with 0 errors.
Added 0 column values with 0 errors.
No rows affected.
```python theme={null}
# Add French translation column
french_prompt = (
'Translate the following text to French. Return only the translation, no explanations:\n\n'
+ content.text_en
)
content.add_computed_column(
response_fr=chat_completions(
messages=[{'role': 'user', 'content': french_prompt}],
model='gpt-4o-mini',
)
)
content.add_computed_column(
text_fr=content.response_fr.choices[0].message.content
)
```
Added 0 column values with 0 errors.
Added 0 column values with 0 errors.
No rows affected.
### Translate content
```python theme={null}
# Insert sample content
sample_content = [
{
'title': 'Welcome Message',
'text_en': 'Welcome to our platform! We are excited to have you here.',
},
{
'title': 'Product Description',
'text_en': 'This lightweight laptop features a 14-inch display and all-day battery life.',
},
{
'title': 'Support Article',
'text_en': 'To reset your password, click the forgot password link on the login page.',
},
]
content.insert(sample_content)
```
Inserting rows into \`content\`: 3 rows \[00:00, 198.43 rows/s]
Inserted 3 rows with 0 errors.
3 rows inserted, 18 values computed.
```python theme={null}
# View all translations
content.select(
content.title, content.text_en, content.text_es, content.text_fr
).collect()
```
```python theme={null}
# Pretty print one example
row = content.where(content.title == 'Welcome Message').collect()[0]
```
## Explanation
**How it works:**
Each target language is a computed column with a translation prompt.
When you insert new content:
1. The English text is processed
2. Translation prompts are generated for each language
3. All translations run in parallel
4. Results are cached—no re-translation needed
**Adding more languages:**
```python theme={null}
# Add German translation
german_prompt = 'Translate to German:\n\n' + content.text_en
content.add_computed_column(
response_de=chat_completions(messages=[{'role': 'user', 'content': german_prompt}], model='gpt-4o-mini')
)
content.add_computed_column(text_de=content.response_de.choices[0].message.content)
```
**Cost optimization:**
## See also
* [Summarize
text](/howto/cookbooks/text/text-summarize) -
Text summarization with LLMs
* [Extract structured
data](/howto/cookbooks/images/vision-structured-output) -
Get JSON from LLM responses
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