CSApr 21, 2017

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

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 Hughes
@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.
Apr 21, 2017 at 5:57pmWeb
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.