Translate an Excel file into Vietnamese

What Vietnamese changes in a spreadsheet

Vietnamese uses the Latin alphabet (quốc ngữ), written left to right, but almost every syllable carries one or two marks: a modified vowel plus a tone mark, stacked as in ệ, ở or ấ. In a spreadsheet this has two practical effects.

• Row height. A row whose height was set manually for your source text can clip the top of stacked marks or the dot below ệ. Rows on automatic height adjust; fixed rows need checking.
• Fonts. Calibri, Arial and Times New Roman cover Vietnamese. A decorative or older corporate font may lack these glyphs, in which case another font is substituted for some letters and the label looks uneven.

Vietnamese words are built from syllables separated by spaces: Số lượng (quantity), Đơn giá (unit price), Tổng cộng (total). A clipped header such as Qty therefore becomes two syllables, and automatic wrapping may break between Số and lượng: still readable, but awkward in a column header.

Plurals, sort order and number formats

Vietnamese has a single plural category: nouns do not change, and number is shown by context or by words such as các or những. 1 sản phẩm, 25 sản phẩm: same form. Workarounds like item(s) are unnecessary and become a plain noun.

Vietnamese alphabetical order differs from English: đ is a separate letter that follows d, and ă and â follow a. A translated column of labels that is then sorted or filtered will not keep the original order; if the order matters, add a numbered column before sending the file.

In Vietnam the comma is the decimal separator and the full stop groups thousands: 1.250.000 ₫, 12,5%; dates are written day/month/year. Manuce leaves numbers, dates and amounts exactly as they are, with their formats, so how they display depends on the cell format and the regional settings of the computer opening the file. No amount is converted into đồng; if the recipient needs that, the calculation is yours to add.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

Manuce translates the text cells on every sheet of the workbook and returns your original .xlsx with Vietnamese in place of the source text. Column widths, colours, borders, number formats, filters and merged cells are preserved. Formulas are left untouched: a calculated cell keeps its formula and keeps calculating.

You also receive a Word version, a PDF and the plain text, which are handy for having a Vietnamese colleague review the labels without sending them the workbook.

What is not done:

• sheet tab names, cell comments, charts, and shapes or text boxes placed on the sheet are not translated;
• narrow columns are not widened: Tổng cộng may be cut off on screen, just as overlong text would have been in the original;
• Manuce does not produce certified (sworn) translations: a spreadsheet that a Vietnamese authority requires in certified form must go to a sworn translator.

For a workbook going to a client or partner in Vietnam, the Professional level, handled by the domain specialist, is the right choice; Essential is enough to understand a file for internal use.

Preparing the workbook

• Text inside formulas stays in the source language. A formula such as ="Total: "&B12 or =IF(C2>0,"Paid","Pending") is not modified, so Paid will appear in English in the middle of a Vietnamese sheet. Where you can, put those words in cells, which will be translated (Đã thanh toán), and reference them.
• Hard-coded criteria. =COUNTIF(D:D,"Yes") counts cells containing Yes; after translation they contain Có and the result drops to zero. The same applies to a VLOOKUP whose key is typed into the formula. Find these formulas first, or replace the values concerned with numeric codes (1/0), which do not change.
• Untranslated elements. If a chart or cell comments carry the key message, copy their text onto an extra sheet so it gets translated.
• Fonts. Swap any in-house font without Vietnamese glyphs for a standard one, and set label rows to automatic height.

Checking the Vietnamese file

1. Go through every sheet: a clipped mark or a letter in a different typeface points to a fixed row height or an incomplete font.
2. Compare a few totals with the original: they should match, since numbers and formulas have not moved.
3. Look for words left in the source language: usually text written inside a formula.
4. Rename the tabs by hand if the recipient needs to navigate them (Tổng hợp for a summary sheet, for instance); Excel updates formula references when a sheet is renamed.
5. If the file will be opened on an older machine in Vietnam, make sure the cells do not use a pre-Unicode font (the .VnTime family, TCVN3 or VNI encodings): the text would display as gibberish.

In practice

1. Spot formulas containing text and check that the workbook's fonts support Vietnamese.
2. Upload the .xlsx: the quote appears immediately, based on the exact word count.
3. Read the free Vietnamese sample at your chosen level, then pay.
4. Download the translated .xlsx plus its Word, PDF and plain-text versions.
5. Check row heights, narrow columns and sheet tab names.