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Download Offline Translation Languages on Mac (22 Listed)

Published · 4 min read

Open System Settings > General > Language & Region > Translation Languages and click Download next to each language you need. Turn on On-Device Mode if you want translation to run on the Mac even while online. On macOS 26 Apple Translation offers 22 languages. Siri and Safari still translate online.

Bilinguine, a free app from usbun (the studio behind this site), uses these same languages. It needs macOS 26 and Open Anyway on first launch; the steps below need neither. For the wider picture of translating without a connection, see how to translate on Mac without internet.

How do I download translation languages in System Settings?

These are the steps from Apple's current guide, "Translate text on Mac":

  1. Click the Apple menu and choose System Settings.
  2. Click General in the sidebar.
  3. Click Language & Region.
  4. Click Translation Languages.
  5. Click Download for each language you want to use.
  6. Click Done.

To remove a language you downloaded, open the same list and click Remove next to it.

Why Apple's site says 25 languages and your Mac shows 22

Apple's feature availability page lists 25 languages for System-Wide Translation: these 22 plus Finnish, Hebrew and Malay. That page describes macOS 27 Golden Gate. On macOS 26 Tahoe those three are not offered. Your own Translation Languages window shows what is available on your Mac right now.

Which path does my macOS version use?

Apple's guide for macOS 12 Monterey already describes downloading languages and On-Device Mode, so the feature is documented well before macOS 26. Only the menu path differs.

macOS version Where the list is
macOS 12 Monterey Apple menu, System Preferences, Language & Region, Translation Languages, then Download
macOS 13 and later System Settings, with the Translation Languages list reached from Language & Region
macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 Golden Gate Apple menu, System Settings, General, Language & Region, Translation Languages

On macOS 12 the guide gives two steps: choose Apple menu, System Preferences, click Language & Region; then click Translation Languages and click Download for each language.

On-Device Mode keeps translation on the Mac, even online

On-Device Mode sits in the same Translation Languages window. Apple: select On-Device Mode to process translations on your Mac, even when connected to the internet. The macOS 12 guide has the same sentence, so the option is not new.

Two consequences to know about:

  • Offline translations may be less accurate than translations processed using Apple servers. This is Apple's own wording, so for an important text, review the result.
  • Only languages you downloaded are available. If a language is missing from the pop-up menu, download it first.

Translate once the languages are downloaded

  1. Select the text in an app.
  2. Control-click the selection and choose Translate.
  3. Pick the source and target languages in the pop-up menus.
  4. Use the Play button to hear the translation, or copy it. Replace with Translation inserts the result in place of the original text.

Apple says you can translate text in different apps on Mac, including some third-party apps. It also states that Siri and Safari always process translations online, so downloaded languages do not make them work offline.

The 22 languages on macOS 26

Read from the system on macOS 26.6.2 (13 October 2026): the Translation framework reports 22 languages. Codes in brackets.

  • Arabic (ar), Danish (da), German (de), English (en), Spanish (es), French (fr), Hindi (hi), Indonesian (id)
  • Italian (it), Japanese (ja), Korean (ko), Norwegian Bokmål (nb), Dutch (nl), Polish (pl), Portuguese (pt), Russian (ru)
  • Swedish (sv), Thai (th), Turkish (tr), Ukrainian (uk), Vietnamese (vi), Chinese (zh)

Using the languages in another app

Bilinguine translates selected text in any app with a keyboard shortcut (Control-Option-T by default) and works with the 22 languages above. If your Mac runs an older macOS, the built-in Control-click method above still applies. For other options, see best offline translators for Mac, and for the shortcut workflow see translate selected text on Mac with a keyboard shortcut.

Last checked on 13 October 2026, against Apple's Mac User Guide (current version and the version for macOS 12) and on a Mac running macOS 26.6.2.

Sources

Questions

Open System Settings, click General, then Language & Region, then Translation Languages, and click Download for each language you want to use. To remove a downloaded language, click Remove in the same list. On macOS 12 the path starts at System Preferences, then Language & Region.

Apple's guide says to select On-Device Mode to process translations on your Mac, even when connected to the internet. The option is in Translation Languages; click Done afterwards. Apple also warns that offline translations may be less accurate than translations processed using Apple servers, so review important texts.

No. Apple's Mac User Guide states that Siri and Safari always process translations online. Downloaded languages and On-Device Mode apply to the Translate option in other apps, which Apple describes as including some third-party apps. They do not make Safari or Siri work offline.

On macOS 26 Tahoe, Apple Translation supports 22 languages: Arabic, Danish, German, English, Spanish, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese and Chinese. This was checked on macOS 26.6.2 on 13 October 2026.

No. Apple documents offline languages and On-Device Mode in its Mac User Guide for macOS 12 Monterey, where the path is System Preferences, then Language & Region, then Translation Languages. Later versions use System Settings. Bilinguine, a third-party app that uses these languages, needs macOS 26 or newer.

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