diff --git a/code/translate.py b/code/translate.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f28aebd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/code/translate.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+from langdetect import detect
+from google_trans_new import google_translator
+
+def translate(text, target_lang='en'):
+    try:
+        input_lang = detect(text)
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f'error when detecting language: {e}')
+        return ''
+    if input_lang == target_lang: return text
+    translator = google_translator()
+    try:
+        text_trans = translator.translate(text, lang_src=input_lang, lang_tgt=target_lang)
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f'error when translating text: {e}')
+        return ''
+    return text_trans