If you are ever in need of translating phrases, blocks of text, complete documents or even Web pages, it might be handy to know where you can go for help.

I guess anyone can find a dictionary and look up a word in French, Italian or Spanish, but what if you need to translate more than just words? What if you want to know how to ask for directions in German or how to order steak in French? Or if you read something you don’t understand? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just copy the text and let some program translate it into your language? You would need a program that can translate every word and build complete and correct sentences in a foreign language.

I found several Web sites that offer free translations between major languages, and some of them even up to 75 different languages. I tested the translators with the languages I speak fluently and with some basic French and Spanish phrases.

Here is a list of top 10 services:

1. Worldlingo – Free online translator.
2. Systran – Home, Office and Web translator. Not completely free but you can use it for some sample translations.
3. Google Language Tools – Translate text or Web sites.
4. Langenberg – Another free online translator.
5. FreeTranslation – Free text block translator.
6. Google Translate – One of the better services – definitely better than Yahoo’s Babelfish, in my opinion.
7. Translation2Paralink – Free translation online.
8. Babylon Translator – Translation program that you can install on your PC.
9. AppliedLanguage – Free translator for Web sites and text.
10. Bing – Microsoft’s own translating service.