I'm using Translate Client on Windows.
This tool instantly get translation of selected text in any application by double press Ctrl
What are alternatives for Mac OS X?
Good implementation would be as in Dictionary (select word Command+Control+D)
UPDATE:
Open /Applications/Automator.app, select to create a new Service, double-click Run AppleScript from the Utilities library, and enter the following script code into the text field:
on run argv
tell application "Safari"
make new document at end of documents
set URL of document 1 to "https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=en&tl=es&text=" & item 1 of argv
end tell
end run
Save as Translate to Spanish.
Now you can select text in any application, and select Translate to Spanish from the context menu, or the Application » Services menu. A new Safari window will open, with the selected text as input to Google Translate.
You can assign a keyboard shortcut in System Preferences » Keyboard » Keyboard Shortcuts » Services.
Selecting from context menu (it's a submenu since I have too many applicable services, you can disable some in System Preferences):
The following page opens after clicking the menu item:
I'd prefer a native application or a ⌃⌘D-style panel as well. But for now I'm using this AppleScript:
try
tell application (path to frontmost application as text)
set ans to text returned of (display dialog "" default answer "ja ")
end tell
set offs to offset of space in ans
set i1 to text 1 thru (offs - 1) of ans
set i2 to text (offs + 1) thru -1 of ans
set sl to "en"
set tl to "en"
set z to offset of "-" in i1
if i1 is "-" then
set sl to "auto"
else if z is 0 then
set tl to i1
else if z is (count i1) then
set sl to text 1 thru -2 of i1
else
set sl to text 1 thru (z - 1) of i1
set tl to text (z + 1) thru -1 of i1
end if
set base to "http://translate.google.com/#"
set u to base & sl & "|" & tl & "|" & urldecode(i2)
tell application "Safari"
activate
open location u
end tell
end try
on urldecode(x)
set cmd to "'require \"cgi\"; puts CGI.escape(STDIN.read.chomp)'"
do shell script "echo " & quoted form of x & " | ruby -e " & cmd
end urldecode
The web client has some features that are essential to me, like transliterating text to the latin alphabet from other writing systems, and providing alternative translations for single words.
Open up Automator
Select Service
Select Utilities under Library
Select Run Shell Script
On the 'Shell:' dropdown menu, select '/usr/bin/ruby'
Type into the textbox:
require 'cgi'<br>
`open 'http://translate.google.com/#auto/en/#{CGI.escape(STDIN.read.chomp)}'`
Save the script as 'Translate to English' or whatever
Now, right clicking on any highlighted text and selecting 'Translate to English' will open up a new Google Translate page with the highlighted text translated into English.
Choose /usr/bin/ruby and paste this script:
require 'cgi'
system("open 'http://translate.google.com/#auto/en/#{CGI.escape(STDIN.read.chomp)}'")
This is what you should get:
Save it under name "translate"
Now you can translate any text:
A version of EN-RU translation for Google Chrome
on run argv
tell application "Google Chrome"
set myTab to make new tab at end of tabs of window 1
set URL of myTab to "http://translate.google.com/#en|ru|" & item 1 of argv
activate
end tell
end run
And a keyboard shortcut trick still works perfectly (El Capitan). You'll find your new service in the list of services, end of "Text" section:
