Language Translator

[gowrims]

Describe the solution you'd like

The language translation link appears in the post, but when I click on it, it opens the Google Translate page. Is there any chance to enable in-page translation?

[surfdude29]

This was already filed as #404 but for some reason was closed as completed by @pfrazee even though the feature hasn't yet shipped, I'm not sure why.

I hope it's OK to mention here, but Graysky (here on GitHub) by @mozzius handles this very nicely, with in-app translations provided by Google Translate in the free version and the option of using DeepL in the Pro version.

[Zero3K]

I filed a similar issue. It was filed as #1327. It has a status of "on the roadmap".

[adamatic-me]

I came to post this same request, and just want to bump this issue as there is so much interesting content in Japanese and now Portuguese. All of those users might want to read the English language posts as well. Making translation easier would now be even more useful given the global nature of the user base. "One Bluesky World" is the vibe that I am currently feeling.

Thanks!

[surfdude29]

This would absolutely be a great thing to have, but it's not likely to happen for the time being in the official app for cost reasons, as indicated by @mozzius in a reply to a user:

https://bsky.app/profile/graysky.app/post/3kozfsuj47223

Opening the Google Translate webpage is completely free for Bluesky, whereas using an API such as Google Translate or DeepL to offer inline in-app translations would incur a cost for each translation generated.

So it seems that inline translation will only be available in third-party apps such as Graysky for the moment.

However, maybe Bluesky could do something like third-party app Skeets and make use of the built-in translation capabilities on mobile? This would certainly be an option on iOS, and I'm guessing Android offers something similar?

[adamatic-me]

I understand that this is not easy. If you see my ideal world version of this, #3474, this is something where I would even be willing to either:

1. add my own API key, which is jank, but is OK in beta

or

2. be willing to pay for it, like custom domains, where Bsky could make a profit

But, to be clear, I would only want to do either of those things if auto-translate-all-posts, was a thing.

Thanks!

[mschwendener]

be willing to pay for it

same

[pietrofxq]

I am releasing a chrome extension next week that adds this feature. I will be paying a X amount for DeepL pro from my pocket and hope the extension users also help the project so I can increase the cost limit. I will drop a link here when it is published

[pietrofxq]

The extension is released! https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/blueet-translator/cahmgapjikpabkijolnbjjgnlkcckoei

[smiley]

Maybe the app could use system APIs where available? iOS just introduced APIs for calling the system translator. Apparently it also supports programmatic translation, but at the very least the app could open an in-app sheet showing a translation.

It's a much smaller number of languages compared to Google Translate but it's a start (and the link could fallback to Google Translate if iOS Translate doesn't support it).

Maybe Google Play Services offers a similar API for popping up Google Translate on Android?

[surfdude29]

Maybe the app could use system APIs where available? iOS just introduced APIs for calling the system translator. Apparently it also supports programmatic translation, but at the very least the app could open an in-app sheet showing a translation.

@mozzius talked in the past about doing this after iOS 18 had been released, so hopefully he and the team can now think about adding this and they can fit it into the schedule 🤞

[pdandradeb]

If you have Google translate installed like I do it will result in losing screen context and scrolling as I described here:

#6695