LaTeX Document Translation Guide

Overview

Translating LaTeX academic documents requires preserving mathematical formulas, cross-references, citations, and formatting while converting the text between languages. This guide covers tools and techniques for translating LaTeX papers — from command-line utilities to full document pipelines. Particularly useful for making research accessible across language barriers.

LaTeXTrans Approach

# Install LaTeXTrans
pip install latextrans

# Translate a LaTeX file
latextrans translate paper.tex --from en --to zh --output paper_zh.tex

How It Works

1. Parse: Extract text segments while preserving LaTeX commands
2. Protect: Shield math environments ($...$, \[...\], equations)
3. Translate: Send text segments to translation API
4. Reconstruct: Reassemble with original LaTeX structure

Python Usage

from latextrans import LatexTranslator

translator = LatexTranslator(
    source_lang="en",
    target_lang="zh",
    engine="google",  # or "deepl", "openai"
)

# Translate a file
translator.translate_file("paper.tex", "paper_zh.tex")

# Translate a string
result = translator.translate(
    r"The loss function $\mathcal{L}(\theta)$ is minimized "
    r"using gradient descent with learning rate $\eta$."
)
# Output preserves $\mathcal{L}(\theta)$ and $\eta$ untouched

MathTranslate Tool

# Install MathTranslate (specialized for math-heavy papers)
pip install mathtranslate

# Translate arXiv paper directly
translate_arxiv 2301.00001 -o translated.tex

# Translate local file
translate_tex paper.tex -o paper_translated.tex

MathTranslate Features

# Configuration
import mathtranslate

# Set translation backend
mathtranslate.config.set_translator("google")  # free
mathtranslate.config.set_translator("openai")  # higher quality

# Translate with customization
mathtranslate.translate(
    input_file="paper.tex",
    output_file="paper_zh.tex",
    source_lang="en",
    target_lang="zh-CN",
    threads=4,  # parallel translation
)