Image or graphic elements such as pictures, icons and clip art, are intercepted during transfer from a computer source to a computer destination, such as during a cut-and-paste operation. Embedded text within the intercepted element is optically recognized, and encoded text is extracted. It is determined if the language of the text matches a desired language of the destination. If not, a translation of the optically-recognized text data is performed, and the translated text data is rendered into image data. The image data is then substituted into the intercepted element to overlay or replace the original embedded text, thereby "translating" the image or graphic element to a desired destination language. The modified image or graphic element is then delivered to the destination, such as a document, program, file or data structure.