---
title: "Translate text between languages"
description: "Automatically translate content into multiple languages using LLMs."
url: "https://www.pixeltable.com/notebooks/text-translate"
updated: "2026-04-10"
---

# Translate text between languages

Automatically translate content into multiple languages using LLMs.

- **Type:** Notebook
- **Group:** Text

## How it works

You add computed columns for each target language. Translations are generated automatically when you insert new content and cached for future queries.

## What it covers

- Translate text using OpenAI models
- Create multiple language columns from one source
- Handle batch translation efficiently

## What it uses

- **Install:** `pip install pixeltable openai`
- **Environment variables it names:** `OPENAI_API_KEY`
- **Pixeltable calls:** `openai.chat_completions()`, `pxt.create_table()`, `add_computed_column()`, `insert()`

## A look at the code

```python
# 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
)
```

## Open it

- **Open in Colab:** https://colab.research.google.com/github/pixeltable/pixeltable/blob/release/docs/release/howto/cookbooks/text/text-translate.ipynb
- **Docs page:** https://docs.pixeltable.com/howto/cookbooks/text/text-translate
- **Source on GitHub:** https://github.com/pixeltable/pixeltable/blob/release/docs/release/howto/cookbooks/text/text-translate.ipynb