The Automated Translation
Google Docs integrates seamlessly with Google Translate. If you receive a document that is written in a language different from your Google Account’s primary language setting, Google Docs will often display a prominent blue banner at the very top of the document offering to automatically “Translate Document” into your native language.
If you are bilingual, studying a foreign language, or working in a multilingual office environment where you actively want to read the original source text without interference, this translation banner is an annoying distraction. Unfortunately, unlike Google Chrome, Google Docs does not have a single toggle switch to globally disable this prompt. However, you can stop it by adjusting your account language settings.
How to Stop Translation Prompts in Docs
You can prevent Docs from offering translations by explicitly telling Google that you understand the language of the document.
- Open your web browser and navigate to your Google Account settings by going to myaccount.google.com.
- In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Personal info.
- Scroll down to the “General preferences for the web” section and click on Language.
- You will see your “Preferred Language” (e.g., English). Below that is a section titled Other languages you understand.
- Click the + Add another language button.
- Search for and select the foreign language of the documents you frequently receive (e.g., Spanish, French, Japanese).
- Click Save.
By officially adding that second language to your Google Account profile, you are instructing all Google Workspace apps (including Docs, Sheets, and Gmail) that you are fluent in it. Google Docs will no longer display the blue translation banner when you open files written in that language.