Google Translate for Email

Paste any corporate email. Get back what it actually means (or what you wish you could say). The universal translator for workplace passive-aggression.

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Inspiration

Everyone has received an email that said "per my last email" and felt their soul leave their body. We've all written replies at 11pm that were... diplomatic. The "Google Translate for LinkedIn" format went viral because it named something real. We wanted that, but for email — the medium where corporate speak actually lives.

What it does

Google Translate for Email has two modes:

  • Decode mode — paste a corporate email, get back what it actually means in plain human English
  • Rage Corp mode — paste what you wish you could say, get back a professionally passive-aggressive version you can actually send

It's instant, no signup, no friction. Paste. Translate. Send.

How we built it

  • React + TypeScript frontend with a clean two-panel translate UI
  • Vercel serverless API with Claude powering the translation logic
  • Custom prompt engineering for each mode — Decode strips the corporate veneer, Rage Corp adds it back with surgical precision
  • Designed to be shareable: output is copy-paste ready

Challenges we ran into

Getting the Rage Corp output right was surprisingly hard. Early versions produced one long run-on sentence stuffed with buzzwords — technically corporate, but not believable. Real passive-aggression is short, punchy, and arrives in sentences that each land independently. We iterated on the prompt until it felt like something a real person would actually send.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The UX is genuinely fun. The two-mode framing makes it feel like a real translation tool, not just a novelty. We also kept it completely frictionless — no account, no paywall, instant output.

What we learned

Prompt tone is everything. The difference between "sounds like AI wrote corporate speak" and "sounds like your actual manager" is about 3 iterations and a strict token budget. Also: the best free tools solve one embarrassing, universal problem very well.

What's next for Google Translate for Email

Reply chain support — paste a whole thread and get the subtext of every person in the conversation. And a "send anyway?" button that makes you wait 60 seconds before copying the Rage Corp version.

*This is a micro-app acting as a viral gimmick for Sidekick Log (sidekicklog.com) — an app that watches your inbox in the background and tells you exactly who you owe a reply, so nothing slips through.

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