How to Translate Slang: Techniques, Examples and Pitfalls

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To translate slang, translate what it means and how it feels, not the words. Work out the literal meaning, the tone (friendly, rude, ironic), who would say it and where, then find an expression in the target language that a similar person would use in the same situation. If no natural equivalent exists, use neutral wording rather than a literal translation or an invented expression.

Key takeaways

• Slang is informal, short-lived and tied to a group, a region or a generation, so word-for-word translation almost always fails.
• There are five workable techniques: equivalent slang, neutral paraphrase, compensation elsewhere in the sentence, keeping the original with a gloss, and leaving it untranslated.
• The same word can be harmless in one country and offensive in another that speaks the same language. Spanish coger is the classic example.
• Machine translation handles common slang better than it used to, but still misreads tone and regional meaning. Anything customer-facing needs a human check.
• On a website, slang lives in taglines, buttons and social proof. Put approved translations in a glossary so they stay consistent.

What makes slang hard to translate

Slang is informal vocabulary used by a particular group: teenagers, gamers, a city, a profession. Four things make it harder than ordinary text:

1. The literal meaning is often wrong. English sick can mean “excellent”; Japanese yabai (“dangerous”, “risky”) is widely used by younger speakers to mean “amazing” as well as “terrible”.
2. The tone matters more than the meaning. Knackered and “very tired” say the same thing, but only one sounds British and casual.
3. It is regional. “Cool” is guay in Spain, chido in Mexico and chévere in much of Colombia and Venezuela. Pick the wrong one and you sound like you are from somewhere else.
4. It dates quickly. Slang that felt fresh five years ago can sound embarrassing now, and dictionaries lag behind.

Examples of slang across languages

These show why a dictionary lookup is not enough. Meanings are the common ones; many words have more.

French verlan is a good illustration of how slang works. Speakers reverse the syllables of a word (femme becomes meuf, louche becomes chelou), and the result carries a street, youthful tone that the original word does not. Wikipedia’s article on verlan has many more examples. A translator has to carry that tone across, not just the meaning.

When the same word means different things

Languages spoken in several countries are where slang causes real damage. The best-known case is Spanish coger: in Spain it simply means “to take” or “to catch” (coger el autobús, to catch the bus), while in Mexico, Argentina and much of Latin America it is a vulgar word for sex. A Spain-based team writing “coge tu cupón” (“grab your coupon”) would embarrass a brand in Buenos Aires.

English has the same problem. Pants are trousers in the US and underwear in the UK. Fanny is harmless in American English and vulgar in British English. If your site targets several countries that share a language, have someone from each market read the key pages.

Five techniques for translating slang

Professional translators choose between a few standard techniques depending on the text and its purpose.

1. Equivalent slang

Replace the slang with slang that a comparable speaker in the target language would use. English “That’s sick!” might become ¡Qué guay! for Spain or ¡Qué chido! for Mexico. This keeps the tone, but only works when you know which market you are writing for.

2. Neutral paraphrase

Translate the meaning in ordinary words: “no cap” becomes “honestly” or “seriously”. You lose some flavour but you avoid sounding wrong. This is the safest choice for content aimed at several countries at once, and for anything legal, medical or financial.

3. Compensation

If a slang word has no equivalent, make up for the lost informality somewhere else in the sentence or paragraph, for example with a casual contraction, a colloquial verb or a lighter sentence rhythm. Literary translators use this a lot; marketers can too.

4. Keep the original and explain it

Useful when the slang itself is the point, for example in an article about a subculture or a brand name built on a slang word. Keep the term in italics and add a short explanation the first time it appears.

5. Leave it as it is

Some slang travels. Many gaming and internet terms, such as GG or OK, are widely understood in English form. If your audience already uses the English term, translating it can sound odd.

A step-by-step process for slang in real projects

1. Flag slang in the source. Before translation, mark informal expressions, puns and idioms in the text so translators know where to take extra care.
2. Explain intent. Add a short note: who is speaking, to whom, and what effect you want (funny, reassuring, edgy). Most bad slang translations come from translators guessing.
3. Decide per market. Choose equivalent slang for a single-country page, neutral wording for a page shared across countries.
4. Check with a native speaker from the target region. Not just a speaker of the language, but someone from the right country and ideally the right age group.
5. Record the decision. Put approved translations of recurring expressions in a glossary so the same phrase isn’t translated three ways on three pages. Our guide to building a localization glossary shows how.
6. Review after launch. Slang ages. Look at your key marketing phrases again every year or so.

Can machine translation handle slang?

Modern machine translation and AI models recognise common slang far better than older systems. They will usually get “I’m knackered” right. They are still unreliable with:

• slang that is new, niche or regional;
• ambiguous words where the tone decides the meaning (sick, yabai);
• words that are harmless in one country and offensive in another;
• puns and wordplay, which rarely survive translation at all.

A sensible workflow is to let machine translation produce the first draft of a whole site, then have people review the parts where tone matters: headlines, calls to action, taglines, product names and social proof. Our article on improving automated translation goes deeper, and the translation quality page explains how ConveyThis approaches review.

Slang on multilingual websites

Most websites use less slang than they think, but it tends to sit in the most visible places: the homepage headline, button labels (“Let’s go!”, “Grab it”), testimonials and social media embeds. A few practical rules:

• Write the source in plain language where you can. It translates better and more cheaply.
• Keep slang out of UI elements such as buttons and error messages. Clarity beats personality there.
• Treat testimonials carefully. A quote translated into stiff formal language loses its credibility; one translated into the wrong regional slang loses it too.
• Use regional versions (for example Spanish for Spain and Spanish for Mexico) only when your audience and budget justify it. Otherwise stay neutral.

How ConveyThis helps

ConveyThis translates your whole website automatically, then gives you the tools to fix the parts machine translation gets wrong. In the visual editor you can see a sentence in place on the page and rewrite it. The glossary lets you set how a phrase should always be translated, or mark words that should never be translated, such as a slang-based brand name. Team roles let you invite a native reviewer for each language, and translation memory reuses approved wording across pages. See the features page for the full list, or compare plans and pricing.

For the wider picture of what goes wrong in translation projects, read 8 common translation mistakes.

Frequently asked questions

Why can’t you translate slang word for word? Because slang meaning comes from usage, not from the individual words. The literal translation of “no cap” or tío tells a reader nothing about what the speaker means.

What is the safest way to translate slang for a global audience? Neutral paraphrase. Say what the slang means in plain words. Use local slang only for pages aimed at one specific country.

Is slang the same as an idiom? Not quite. Idioms are fixed expressions whose meaning isn’t literal (“break a leg”) and often last for generations. Slang is informal vocabulary tied to a group and changes faster. Both need to be translated by meaning.

Should I translate slang in user reviews? Translate the meaning and keep the informal tone, but avoid inventing slang the customer didn’t use. If in doubt, use natural, casual wording.

Want to translate your site and still keep control over tone? Create a ConveyThis account and review your translations in the visual editor.