Translate an Excel File into Turkish

What Turkish changes in a spreadsheet

Turkish uses the Latin alphabet and runs left to right, but it adds letters that many source languages lack: ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş, ü and their capitals. The main trap is the letter i. Lower-case i capitalises to İ (dotted), and capital I lowercases to ı (dotless). Case conversion that ignores this rule produces "ISTANBUL" instead of "İSTANBUL", or turns "KILAVUZ" (guide) into "kilavuz", which is a misspelling. If a column relies on =UPPER() or =LOWER(), or a header style forces capitals, check every word that contains an i.

Turkish is agglutinative, so suffixes stack onto a single word. "Unbilled orders" becomes Faturalandırılmamış siparişler. In a column header, a word like that cannot break neatly and soon overflows a narrow cell.

Turkish has only two plural categories (one and other), but a noun after a number stays singular: "3 ürün", not "3 ürünler". Sentences typed in full into a cell are translated correctly. Sentences assembled by a formula are not, as explained below.

Instructions for a Turkish reader use the formal siz form, for example Lütfen teslim tarihini giriniz ("Please enter the delivery date").

What Manuce returns, and what it leaves alone

You upload the workbook and receive:

• your original .xlsx, with Turkish replacing the source text in the cells of every sheet;
• formulas left untouched: a calculated cell keeps its formula and keeps calculating. Numbers, dates and amounts stay as they are;
• the formatting preserved: column widths, colours, borders, number formats, filters and merged cells;
• a Word version, a PDF and the plain text as well.

What is not translated:

• sheet tab names: "Q1 Sales" stays "Q1 Sales". References such as 'Q1 Sales'!B4 therefore keep working. If you rename the tab yourself in Excel (Ç1 Satışlar), Excel normally updates those references;
• cell comments, charts (titles and legends), and shapes or text boxes placed on the sheet;
• column widths: a narrow column is not widened, so a longer Turkish label may be cut off on screen, just as it would be in the original.

Turkish is one of the languages with a surcharge, a ×1.25 coefficient on the per-word rate. Manuce does not produce sworn or certified translations. For a spreadsheet going to a Turkish authority, you will need a sworn translator (yeminli tercüman).

Formulas and text: the Turkish-specific traps

Because formulas are not modified, any text written inside a formula stays in the source language. Three cases come up often.

1. Text comparisons. With =IF(C2="Paid","OK","Chase"), cell C2 becomes Ödendi after translation, but the formula still looks for "Paid" and returns "Chase" on every row. The same applies to VLOOKUP, COUNTIF or SUMIF when the criterion is a word. Replace the quoted word with its Turkish equivalent, or point the criterion to a cell instead.
2. Concatenations. =A2&" items in stock" will stay in the source language. In Turkish, a fixed suffix cannot work anyway, because it changes with vowel harmony and takes an apostrophe after a proper noun: Ankara'da, but İzmir'de. Use a construction without a suffix, such as ="Şehir: "&A2.
3. Custom number formats. A format like 0 " pcs" belongs to the preserved formatting, so the unit stays untranslated. Change it to 0 " adet".

Turkey writes 1.234,56, dates as 31.12.2024, and the lira as ₺ or TL. The values themselves do not change. How they display depends on the cell format and on the reader's regional settings.

Preparing the workbook and checking the result

• Before uploading: find the formulas that contain quotation marks. These are the ones that will break after translation. Turn on wrap text for narrow headers, or plan to widen those columns afterwards.
• Fonts: a decorative or older font may lack ğ, ş or ı and show a box or a substitute letter. Standard system fonts include them.
• Sorting and filters: Turkish alphabetical order puts Ç after C, Ğ after G, I before İ, Ö after O, Ş after S and Ü after U. A sort run under non-Turkish settings may push these letters to the end of the list. Re-sort the column after translation if the order matters.
• Items to translate yourself: tab names, chart titles and legends, comments and text boxes. The Word version we supply makes a full read-through easier.
• Final check: search the headers for capital "I" to catch a missing İ, and make sure no cell is still cut off.

In practice

1. Upload your .xlsx file: the quote appears straight away, based on the exact word count.
2. Review the free sample paragraph translated into Turkish at your chosen level, then pay.
3. Download the translated workbook, plus its Word, PDF and plain-text versions, from your account.
4. Fix any formulas that compare text, widen narrow columns and check every İ/ı.
5. Translate tab names, charts and comments yourself if your Turkish reader needs them.