Coordinated user word selection for translation and obtaining of contextual information for the selected word

A computer-implemented technique can include receiving a selection by a user of a single word in a document in a source language, the document being displayed in a viewing application executing at the computing device, obtaining contextual information from the document that is indicative of a context of the selected word, providing the selected word and its contextual information from the viewing application to a different translation application, obtaining potential translated words using the translation application, the selected word, and its contextual information, each potential translated word being a potential translation of the selected word to a different target language that is preferred by the user, and displaying the potential translated words.