Translate a PowerPoint presentation into Hebrew

What changes when a slide goes into Hebrew

Most decks are built for a reader who scans from left to right: title on the left, logo top left, process arrows pointing right. A Hebrew reader starts from the right. The translated text reads correctly, but the slide composition stays exactly as it was in the source file.

• Shape positions: Manuce moves nothing. A timeline running left to right will still run that way; whether to flip it is your call.
• Paragraph alignment and direction: Hebrew paragraphs should be right-aligned with bullets on the right. If a text box is set to left alignment, the Hebrew may sit against the wrong edge.
• Bidirectional text: numbers, acronyms and brand names in Latin script stay left to right inside the Hebrew sentence. A line such as Q3 2024 results: +12% becomes a sentence in which 2024 and the percentage keep their internal order.
• Fonts: a Latin-only theme font has no Hebrew glyphs, so PowerPoint substitutes another, which can look out of place next to the rest of the slide.

Hebrew-specific points in a presentation

Beyond direction, Hebrew forces choices that have to be made slide by slide.

• No written vowels: everyday Hebrew is written without vowel marks. Text is often more compact than English or French, but a single isolated word, such as a button label or a one-word title, can be ambiguous without context.
• The dual: some nouns have a dedicated form for two. “2 days” is usually יומיים rather than “2 ימים”, “2 weeks” שבועיים. A label built on a variable, such as {n} days, does not always map to a single form.
• Gender: verbs and adjectives agree with the person addressed. A call to action like “Contact us” means choosing a form, often masculine plural or a neutral infinitive.
• Register: Israeli business Hebrew is direct; very ceremonious phrasing translated literally sounds stiff.
• Acronyms: Hebrew marks them with a quote-like sign, as in בע״מ (limited company).
• Conventions: dates as day, month, year; a Sunday-to-Thursday working week in Israel, worth remembering on a schedule slide; amounts in shekels (₪) if you localise figures.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

Manuce translates the text in titles, placeholders, text boxes, shapes, grouped shapes and tables. You receive your original .pptx with the text replaced in place, theme, images, positions, animations and transitions unchanged, together with a Word version, a PDF and plain text, handy for a Hebrew reviewer who does not use PowerPoint.

What stays in the source language or needs your attention:

• speaker notes are not translated at present;
• text in charts, SmartArt, slide masters (a “Confidential” footer set in the master, for instance) and text embedded in images;
• a paragraph mixing several formats takes the formatting of its start: a bold word mid-sentence loses its bold, all the more since Hebrew word order differs;
• text box sizes are not recalculated; any autofit set in PowerPoint applies;
• slides are not mirrored.

Manuce does not produce sworn or certified translations.

Preparing the file before upload

• Move any text you need translated out of images: a diagram exported as a picture will stay in the source language.
• If a chart or SmartArt carries key labels, consider rebuilding them as text boxes or translating them separately.
• Copy anything important from the speaker notes onto the slides, since notes are not translated.
• Use a theme font that includes Hebrew, such as Arial or Segoe UI, to avoid substitution.
• Simplify sentences where a single word is bold or coloured, or plan to reapply that formatting afterwards.

Request the free extract: one paragraph translated at your chosen level lets you check, before paying, that a product name or acronym is kept as it is.

Checking the Hebrew .pptx after delivery

1. Go through every slide and check right alignment and bullet position; change paragraph direction in PowerPoint where needed.
2. Proofread mixed lines: a bracket, percentage sign or full stop next to a Latin word can appear on the wrong side.
3. Spot directional visuals (arrows, timelines, numbered steps) and decide whether to flip them for an Israeli audience.
4. Check fixed boxes: shorter text leaves gaps, and a Hebrew font that looks smaller at the same point size may need enlarging.
5. Have a Hebrew speaker read the PDF for gender, dual forms and the tone of calls to action.

In practice

1. Take text out of images and move essential notes onto the slides.
2. Upload the .pptx and read the quote based on the exact word count.
3. Check the free Hebrew extract, especially Latin names and acronyms.
4. Download the .pptx, Word version, PDF and plain text.
5. Fix right alignment, diagram direction and fonts in PowerPoint.