How to Stop Your Mac from Automatically Translating Safari Webpages

Modern versions of Safari on macOS include a robust built-in translation engine. When you navigate to a webpage that is written in a language different from your system’s default, Safari will often automatically translate the entire page into English (or your native language) the moment it finishes loading.

While this is incredibly helpful for general browsing, it is a massive hindrance for language learners, professional translators, or developers working on localized versions of a website. When Safari automatically translates a page, it fundamentally alters the text structure, which can break CSS layouts and prevent you from seeing the original phrasing you actually navigated there to read.

If you prefer to browse foreign websites exactly as they were written, you can turn off Safari’s aggressive auto-translation feature.

How to Stop Safari from Translating Pages

You can disable the translation engine directly within Safari’s settings.

1. Open the Safari browser on your Mac.
2. In the top menu bar, click on Safari (next to the Apple logo).
3. Click on Settings (or Preferences on older macOS versions).
4. Click on the Advanced tab (the gear icon on the far right).
5. Look for the checkbox labeled Translate Web Pages (Wait, Apple moved this setting. Let’s use the actual current method).

Correction for macOS Sonoma/Ventura:

Safari’s translation settings are actually tied to the OS-level language settings.

1. Open System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click on General in the left sidebar.
3. Click on Language & Region.
4. Under the “Preferred Languages” section, you will see a list of languages you read. If a language is NOT on this list, Safari will try to translate it.
5. To stop Safari from translating a specific language (e.g., Spanish), click the + (Plus) button under the Preferred Languages box.
6. Add “Spanish” to your list of known languages. (When prompted, ensure you keep English as your primary language).

Because you have now told macOS that you are fluent in Spanish, Safari will never attempt to translate a Spanish website again. It will simply load the raw, original text.