Translate a flyer to Spanish without redesigning it

The fastest way to translate a flyer to Spanish depends on the file you have. If the flyer is still editable in Canva or Word, translate the text there. If all you have is the exported PDF, a JPG or a photo of the printed flyer, upload it as an image and get a Spanish copy with the same layout, colors and pictures. Either way, ask someone who reads Spanish to check it before you print: a flyer is public, and small errors show.

Which method fits your flyer?

How to translate a flyer image to Spanish

1. Get a clean image. Export the page as PNG or JPG from your PDF viewer or design tool. If you only have a printed copy, photograph it flat, straight on and in good light. Keep it under 10 MB.
2. Open the image translator, set English as the source (or auto-detect) and Spanish as the target.
3. Pick the mode in the menu next to the languages (it appears on wide screens): Marketing for sales, events and anything that needs to persuade; Default mode for notices and information.
4. Add instructions on the Pro plan or higher, for example: "Address the reader as usted. Keep the phone number, address and website unchanged. Translate 'food bank' as 'banco de alimentos'."
5. Download the Spanish version and check it with the list below.

What a Spanish result looks like

This is one of our demo images, an English fast-food ad, and the Spanish version our image translator generated from it:

• The burger photo, colors and logo are kept (the burger comes out slightly larger), and apart from the headline the layout is unchanged. "TAKE AWAY" became "PARA LLEVAR", "ONIONS X3" became "CEBOLLAS X3", and "KING DRIVE" was kept as a brand name.
• The headline was reordered: the product name now comes first.
• "DEMÁS" carries its accent even in capital letters.
• The tagline addresses the reader informally ("alejados de ti"). Fine for a fast-food ad; for a notice about a parent-teacher meeting you would want usted. That is the kind of decision a reviewer has to make.

Spanish details to check before printing

Usted or tú

Spanish has a formal and an informal "you", and the verbs change with it. "Bring your child's vaccination record" is "Traiga el registro de vacunación de su hijo" with usted and "Trae el registro de vacunación de tu hijo" with tú. For notices from schools, clinics, landlords and public offices, usted is the safer choice; casual promotions can use tú. Pick one and use it everywhere on the flyer.

Which Spanish?

Vocabulary varies by country. In the US, people of Mexican origin made up 57% of the Hispanic population in 2024 (Pew Research Center), but your neighborhood may be mostly Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican or Central American. Write for the people who will read the flyer, prefer neutral words when regions disagree, and ask someone from that community to read the draft. Even "flyer" varies: SpanishDict marks volante as Latin American usage and gives folleto without a regional label (SpanishDict).

Dates, times and numbers

• Write the month in words, in lowercase: "sábado, 14 de noviembre". The RAE recommends the day-month-year order, the traditional one in Spanish-speaking countries (RAE, fecha), so a date like 11/7 can be read as July 11.
• Times: the Real Academia Española recommends "a. m." and "p. m.", lowercase, with periods and a space (RAE, hora): "de 10 a. m. a 2 p. m.".
• Leave unchanged: phone numbers, street addresses, email addresses, websites and QR codes. "Main Street" stays "Main Street".
• Prices: check every digit; a generated image can alter one.

Common phrases

Suggested wording for common lines; have it read by someone from your audience before printing.

Accents, ñ, ¿ and ¡

Check every accent (á, é, í, ó, ú), every ñ and the opening ¿ and ¡. A missing tilde changes words: año (year) without it becomes ano, a very different word. Make sure the flyer's font displays accented capitals cleanly.

Length

Spanish text usually takes more room than English. IBM guidance quoted by the W3C lists an average expansion of 200–300% for English strings up to 10 characters and 130% for strings over 70 when translated into European languages (W3C). Short headlines and buttons are where overflow appears first, so check that nothing was cut or shrunk until it is hard to read.

A Spanish flyer or a bilingual flyer?

The translator produces a separate Spanish version of the same design: one flyer in English, one in Spanish. A bilingual flyer with both languages side by side is a different layout that has to fit twice the text in the same space, which is design work. You can use the Spanish copy as the text source for it. For handouts, an English front and a Spanish back is a simple compromise.

When a human translator is the better choice

Notices about health, medical care, legal rights, housing, immigration, benefits or safety, and anything with deadlines, eligibility rules or amounts of money, should be checked by a native speaker or a professional translator before they are posted. TranslateMyImage does not provide certified translations.

Using the flyer for a business

The free Basic plan is for personal use only. A flyer that promotes a business needs a paid plan, Pro or higher, which includes commercial use; credit packs add credits but do not change these rights. The terms do not say whether a flyer for a school, nonprofit or church counts as personal use: if you are not sure, contact us at the address given there before you print. Restaurants can use the menu translator for their menus, and ads and social posts are covered by the ad image translator. For other Spanish visuals, see translate images to Spanish; for images already in Spanish, the Spanish image translator.