CS

Hi everyone! I made a translator bot that translates statuses it's mentioned in.

To use it, mention @translator ([email protected]) in your status, followed by the two-letter code for the language you want to translate to (e.g. "ja" for Japanese) (full list of possible codes here: https://christopher.su/projects/translator/). It uses English if no language is given.

Give it a try and toot me your suggestions and comments!

@translator ja
#MastoDev #Mastodon #Bots #Languages

Apr 21, 2017 at 5:54amWeb
Show threadwirehack7Apr 21, 2017
@cs @translator that's damn awesome! Thanks!
Show threadJBBdudeApr 21, 2017

@cs Ah. The fourth account :P

I assume it won't translate toots that are forwarded to it (i.e. someone replies to a toot and tags the bot), correct?

Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@jbbdude It does right now, which is kind of problematic... next item to fix is not tooting when the source language and translated language are the same.
Show threadJBBdudeApr 21, 2017
@cs Wait, so if I reply to a foreign language toot (say, in Japanese) with "@translator en" it would translate the previous toot? That's amazing!
Show threadXyrop ✔️Apr 21, 2017
@translator @cs ceci est un test de traduction @translator
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ❌​Apr 21, 2017

@cs Would there be any chance of extending that to translate the /parent/ post into some specified language?

Say:

@translator parent fr

Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@dredmorbius Yeah, this has been the most requested feature now. I didn't add it in at first, because I didn't want spam notifications at the parent toot posters, but I suppose it wouldn't be too bad. Considering adding it! I would have to make it respect #nobot, probably.
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ❌​Apr 21, 2017
@cs You could have translate bot /not/ mention the author of a toot.
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@dredmorbius Would do that for sure. I wonder if Mastodon might still send a notification to the author though. It might look at the parent toot id, check that toot, and then send a notification to its author. Need to manually test a reply toot that doesn't mention the author and see if it still notifies.
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ❌​Apr 21, 2017

@cs My understanding is that Notifs occur /only/ if the user is directly mentioned, or of a toot is favourited or boosted.

Otherwise, a post is added to a thread, but there's no notification generated.

Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@dredmorbius Good to know, thanks!
Show threadChrisApr 22, 2017

@dredmorbius Actually, another problem with this: the https://toot.works instance is essentially a single-user (+bots) instance. If the parent toot isn't federated to the instance, I'm not sure if the bot can fetch the parent toot's content to translate it. Any idea on how to fix it?

When browsing my timeline on toot.works, I frequently click on toots that are replies and I can't see the parent toot :/

Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ❌​Apr 23, 2017

@chris You might need to work around that. I'm not sure what the bot API looks like but:

1. Open the requestor's local instance of the request (e.g., <instance>/@<requestor>/<post-ID>
2. Look at the parent post, which should be the original.
3. Grab its timeline URL.
4. Search that on the bot instance. This adds the post to that instance.

I don't know that there's a streamlined way of doing this, but it would include the parent work, if you can make this happen.

Show threadChrisApr 23, 2017

@dredmorbius Ah, using the instance search through the API to pull in the post to the instance is brilliant. I hadn't thought of that.

Another approach that I thought of that could work: the "Get a status" API endpoint was changed to not require authentication in one of the more recent versions, so I could try calling that API directly on the other instance. Would only work if the other instance was on a new enough version that the API didn't require auth though.

Show threadChrisApr 29, 2017

@dredmorbius Finished this feature: https://toot.works/@chris/56981

Give it a try!

Show threadMeroviusApr 21, 2017
@cs I think this should be integrated into the UI, honestly. I don't want to toot something to get a translation and I *really* love "translate this"-buttons in other webapps :)
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@Merovius You can use a translation browser extension for that! Problem with integrating it in the UI and translating lots of toots is programmatic translation is not cheap :(
Show threadHennik Hunsaker [they/them]Apr 21, 2017
@cs Saw at least one user request that the translator post using unlisted toots, so that the Federated (and Local) Timeline(s) don't get flooded by translations...
Show threadHennik Hunsaker [they/them]Apr 21, 2017

@cs Crap. Meant to include "but not sure if you saw that already" at the end of that toot.

Well, count this as a +1 on that request, then. Seems like a legit request to me.

Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@sendoshin Whoops, I should fix that. Hadn't seen that yet, thanks for bringing it to my attention! I'll fix it when I wake up in the morning :) (3 am here now)
Show threadHennik Hunsaker [they/them]Apr 21, 2017
@cs 4, here. 😁
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@sendoshin This was keeping me up, so I just pushed the change 😛 Should be 'unlisted' now.
Show threadHennik Hunsaker [they/them]Apr 21, 2017
@cs I know that feeling all too well. 😁 Sleep well!
Show threadMark HughesApr 21, 2017

@cs @translator translation would be neat but I don't want to mention toots to find out what they say (if I understand how it works).

Any way to integrate this differently? Eg, as a translate tab, so toots can have a "translate to xx" tab that I can enable/disable in settings, and which I could permanently enable for certain people who I follow.

Show threadMark HughesApr 21, 2017
@translator @cs I got my first Japanese follower today but there's no point me following back because I can't read any of their toots ☹
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@translator @markhughes There are some browser extensions that will translate highlighted text for you (e.g. the Google Translate browser extension). You could use that to read translated toots and then use this to reply back quickly :)
Show threadMark HughesApr 21, 2017
@cs @translator thanks but I'm a Googlephobe because of how they track people and use that data in harmful ways.
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@markhughes @translator Fair enough! This is also why it would be difficult to add translation to Mastodon itself or to clients though. Using a 3rd-party service raises privacy concerns. Not using a 3rd-party service would require probably GBs of trained translation models
Show threadMark HughesApr 21, 2017
@cs @translator I agree it's a tricky issue but some level of privacy could be introduced (translating text without exposing the URL for example). Using a browser plugin is a much bigger privacy concern I think.
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@markhughes @translator Ah, I see what you mean. Agreed, a browser extension that's reading text off pages you visit/text you highlight is definitely much greater cause for concern.
Show threadHugo GameiroApr 21, 2017
@cs Very cool! Awesome work! This can be very handy
Show threadWolfgangApr 21, 2017
@cs @translator Hi Chris, which translation service do you use? This is not described on your project side.
Thanks
Wolfgang
Show threadWolfgangApr 21, 2017
@translator @cs Found the info in your timeline...
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@translator @vilbi Ya, it's using the Microsoft Translation API. Going to update the project FAQ later to include this info
Show threadHugo GameiroApr 21, 2017
@cs Wondering, How hard would it be to ask the translator bot to translate a toot.
Like, hit reply, mention @ translator and: [previous] [ja]
Or @ translator with the URL of the toot
Both could be useful, just wondering :)
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@hugo It wouldn't be too hard; and that's a highly requested feature, so I'm considering it!
Show threadYvesAgo [old]Apr 21, 2017
@cs @translator fr
thanks for your useful work. Anyway which API is used for the translation ?
Show threadTranslatorApr 21, 2017
@yvesago [fr] @cs Merci pour votre travail utile. En tout cas quelle API est utilisée pour la traduction ?
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@yvesago @translator I'm using the (paid) Microsoft Translation API.
Show threadYvesAgo [old]Apr 21, 2017
@cs @translator
Re: " I'm using the (paid) Microsoft Translation API"
Thanks for the reply. Maybe you could add this in the status of translator. This could be important for some users.
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@translator @yvesago Yup, planning on adding it to the FAQ soon
Show thread𝕶𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖚 𝕻𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖞𝖕𝖚𝖘 𝕲𝖍𝖎𝖉𝖔𝖗𝖆𝖍Apr 21, 2017
@cs
This is more than awesome!!
Thank you.
Show threadStéphane BortzmeyerApr 21, 2017
@cs @translator From french to spanish, "Jean" was translated by "John" (should have been "Juan" or, probably better, not translated)
Show threadStéphane BortzmeyerApr 21, 2017
@cs @translator Hashtags are not translated :-(
Show threadStéphane BortzmeyerApr 21, 2017
@cs @translator A public issue tracker may be a good idea?
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@translator @bortzmeyer Good idea, I'll get on that
Show threadStéphane BortzmeyerApr 21, 2017
@cs @translator When the toot is already in the target language, it is reproduced as is, *except* if the target language is english, where the toot is ignored.
Show threadCSApr 21, 2017
@translator @bortzmeyer That's intentional. What do you think it should do?
Show threadStéphane BortzmeyerApr 21, 2017
@cs Why the difference between english and the other target languages? @translator yua