# DeepL support for Discourse Translator

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** pr-welcome, translator
**Created:** [December 17, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614 "2020-12-17T16:47:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![sunjam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sunjam/32/175682_2.png) [@sunjam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sunjam)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/1 "2020-12-17T16:47:51Z")

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Adding as a new post since all replies to the plugin are otherwise deleted on this forum. Continuing the discussion from [Discourse Translator](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-translator/32630/286):

> [@Discourse Translator](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-translator/32630/284):
>
> Hi, the best translator around is Deepl [DeepL Translate](https://www.deepl.com/translator) but I don’t know if it could be used by Discourse.

Seems API’s are available for those interested, in addition to their [“Developer Pro Account”](https://www.deepl.com/en/pro#developer).

[https://www.programmableweb.com/api/deepl-translator/sdks](https://www.programmableweb.com/api/deepl-translator/sdks)

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### Author: ![4ong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/4ong/32/186618_2.png) [@4ong](https://meta.discourse.org/u/4ong)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/2 "2020-12-17T16:58:54Z")

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They also have some simulator here -

> **[Quickstart - DeepL Documentation](https://developers.deepl.com/docs/getting-started/quickstart)**

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### Author: ![koen360](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/koen360/32/194302_2.png) [@koen360](https://meta.discourse.org/u/koen360)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2021, 11:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/3 "2021-04-13T11:50:12Z")

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Hi all,

I have in previous (now deleted) posts expressed the same desire. Think in principle it should be quick work to add another service provider with the authentication framework already being in place. I think an alternative well-performing translation service is well suited for our Discourse community.

As such I have just reached out to Deepl pointing them to Discourse and this plugin. Having looked at their propositions, I have asked if they would be open to consider a free-tier type proposition for not-for-profit/small-time users like myself and many others.

Being open source one of their developers working with the plugin devs would probably make quick work of adding another service provider. I know I don’t have the skills yet but happy to test of course.

I’ll let you know what I hear.

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### Author: ![koen360](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/koen360/32/194302_2.png) [@koen360](https://meta.discourse.org/u/koen360)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2021, 8:47am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/4 "2021-04-16T08:47:48Z")

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Hi, just had a real nice conversation with the DeepL folks. They are about to launch a new entry proposition with some free tier and the obvious restrictions. Should fit our use very nicely. I’ll get the specifics shortly. The technical stuff they can’t work on that should be on us. But they can provide all the necessary documentation.

I expect to get the info by next week, would there be people able to do the development work to add DeepL into the default options? Would love to do it myself so I can learn, but I’d need some coaching. Also happy to test of course.

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### Author: ![koen360](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/koen360/32/194302_2.png) [@koen360](https://meta.discourse.org/u/koen360)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/5 "2021-04-20T14:19:49Z")

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Here’s more info on the DeepL free tier and related restrictions, it is available to everyone and free as long as you stay under 500k characters a month.

> **[DeepL Pro | Translate Text, Word Docs & Other Docs Securely](https://www.deepl.com/en/pro?cta=header-prices)**
>
> Fast, accurate and secure translations. DeepL Pro Translate for individuals and teams.

Had look at some of my top topics and conservatively speaking they are about 7500 characters and the rest below that. If the topics would average 5000k (which is conservative too) that would mean 100 topics could be translated once without hitting the limit each month. That should work for the scale of the forum that I run.

By the way: used this online tool [https://www.charactercountonline.com/](https://www.charactercountonline.com/) and just did Ctrl+A in the web page and pasted that there. Is there a more elegant way to get the statistics on the character count for posts and/or topics?

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### Author: ![quentilina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/977dab/32.png) [@quentilina](https://meta.discourse.org/u/quentilina)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2021, 1:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/6 "2021-04-23T13:46:20Z")

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Hi @koen360,

thanks a lot for the updates on DeepL. They are really helpful for me right now, as our team is searching for a way to make our forum community more welcoming for users with different language background.  
Have you already implemented the connection of DeepL to your forum?

> [@koen360](#):
>
> Is there a more elegant way to get the statistics on the character count for posts and/or topics?

I found this post quite good as an orientation on how we could count our own characters. [How to estimate the cost of translation using the translator plugin - #3 by lee-dohm](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-estimate-the-cost-of-translation-using-the-translator-plugin/171120/3) But this online tool seems interesting too.

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### Author: ![koen360](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/koen360/32/194302_2.png) [@koen360](https://meta.discourse.org/u/koen360)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2021, 8:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/7 "2021-04-24T20:42:39Z")

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Hi that’s indeed a great post.

Haven’t implemented it yet. I am waiting for some proper time off to take a stab at adjusting the existing code but that will trigger quite some learning curves for what probably is short work for an actual developer. But I like the learning experience.

I also hear the plugin dev is having some time off, let’s see what he comes up with when he is back.

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### Author: ![quentilina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/977dab/32.png) [@quentilina](https://meta.discourse.org/u/quentilina)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2021, 8:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/8 "2021-04-26T08:41:52Z")

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Thats great, hope the post its helpful for you.

Yes indeed, its not that easy as it seems at first glance. Do you actually know how the translation option would be visible for users, once implemented? I’m sure there are probably a few ways, but we are wondering if it would look like the translator plugin, with the visible button under each post?

Do you know something about that?

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### Author: ![koen360](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/koen360/32/194302_2.png) [@koen360](https://meta.discourse.org/u/koen360)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/9 "2021-04-26T15:05:50Z")

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What I am hoping is that it will be exactly the same but just using a different translation service provider in the back. Just DeepL instead of google translate.

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### Author: ![daemon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/daemon/32/256632_2.png) [@daemon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/daemon)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/10 "2021-09-27T15:04:49Z")

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Are there any news about that?

I need the Discourse Translator but I don’t want to use MS, Google or Yandex.

As I can see you don’t need a pro account from DeepL? But it’s limited to 500k chars/signs.

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### Author: ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 6:09am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/11 "2021-09-28T06:09:56Z")

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I recommend you make a #Marketplace topic and offer a bounty, we are open to accepting a PR that adds DeepL support.

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### Author: ![daemon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/daemon/32/256632_2.png) [@daemon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/daemon)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 6:27am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/12 "2021-09-28T06:27:37Z")

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@sam  
Why should I do this and pay for this?  
Am I the only one who asked for it?

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### Author: ![mcdanlj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mcdanlj/32/131829_2.png) [@mcdanlj](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcdanlj)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/13 "2021-09-28T12:48:44Z")

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The options are:

1. Someone outside CDCK contributes it.
  1. Someone with a personal interest in this writes it themselves
  2. Someone pays someone else, such as through the marketplace, to write it

2. CDCK writes it
  1. A _paying customer_ is willing to pay specifically for it
  2. Substantially many _paying customers_ request it
  3. CDCK, in their _own independent judgment,_ decide to spend time on it for their own reasons.

I think that complaining and expecting someone else to do the work for free is unlikely to be motivating either for CDCK or a third party.

I personally would appreciate this feature; as far as I am aware DeepL is the only translation service with a free tier, and I run a Discourse forum that is completely free and takes in no revenue to pay for translation services. But that doesn’t imply that anyone is obligated to write this feature for me, any more than it obligates me to write the feature because I wish it existed.

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### Author: ![kinetiksoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/kinetiksoft/32/229578_2.png) [@kinetiksoft](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kinetiksoft)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 4:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/14 "2021-09-28T16:39:41Z")

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Just created #Marketplace topic for this PR:

> [@DeepL integration for Translator plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-integration-for-translator-plugin/204665):
>
> What would you like done? I need additional integration of [DeepL](https://www.deepl.com/translator) for Discourse [Translator](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-translator/32630/) plugin. It should perform just the same way it does with Google Translate API. When do you need it done? It can wait, but when specialist is defined, I believe one week would be enough to complete API integration. To be discussed. What is your budget, in $ USD that you can offer for this task? Up to $150. Open to your offers though.

Not sure if the pricing is fine enough, but let’s see.  
This month’s price for Google translation using the plugin cost us around $250, which is kind of too much for us, given the fact we don’t monetize this feature at our forum.

> [@daemon](#):
>
> Why should I do this and pay for this?

Nobody told you should. This is called “contribution”. Wanna split the cost?

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### Author: ![daemon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/daemon/32/256632_2.png) [@daemon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/daemon)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/15 "2021-09-28T16:50:57Z")

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I don’t know who or what CDCK is!

> [@mcdanlj](#):
>
> I think that complaining and expecting someone else to do the work for free is unlikely to be motivating either for CDCK or a third party.

I never wrote that I want this plugin for free! And like I said before I just asked if there are news about it! So why do you blame me?

> [@kinetiksoft](#):
>
> Nobody told you should. This is called “contribution”. Wanna split the cost?

@sam told me to open a marketplace topic.

I have to think about it.

In another topic I wrote that I cannot code in Ruby, but I can code in other languages, so maybe I will have a look at it.

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### Author: ![ondrej](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ondrej/32/198804_2.png) [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/16 "2021-09-28T16:56:53Z")

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> [@daemon](#):
>
> CDCK

That would be Discourse themselves.

Civilised Discourse Construction Kit 😉

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### Author: ![merefield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/merefield/32/176214_2.png) [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/17 "2021-09-28T16:58:53Z")

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> [@daemon](#):
>
> I cannot code in Ruby

There’s no cannot in IT 😉

Once you’ve learned a few languages Ruby is a delight and very straightforward.

What takes more time is learning Ruby on Rails which is a framework and has its own idiosyncrasies.

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### Author: ![Heliosurge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/heliosurge/32/571810_2.png) [@Heliosurge](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Heliosurge)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/18 "2021-09-28T17:16:19Z")

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Keep in mind too as there is now a marketplace topic fellow like minded community members could look at pooling funds to make it a reality much like a KS project idea.

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### Author: ![daemon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/daemon/32/256632_2.png) [@daemon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/daemon)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/19 "2021-09-28T17:34:15Z")

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> [@ondrej](#):
>
> Civilised Discourse Construction Kit

Never heard about it, thanks for the clarification.

> [@merefield](#):
>
> There’s no cannot in IT

Yes I know, it’s more like “I don’t want it (like Java)”.

> [@Heliosurge](#):
>
> Keep in mind too as there is now a marketplace topic …

I saw it and I would pay for it, but only if it wouldn’t get available for free for all others. Why should I pay for something and all others have the benefit? In this case I’m an asshole and I know it.  
I could live with it if someone would develop it and everyone who needs it would pay for a license, maybe as a lifetime license or monthly/yearly with support for updates and bugfixes.

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### Author: ![kinetiksoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/kinetiksoft/32/229578_2.png) [@kinetiksoft](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kinetiksoft)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614/20 "2021-09-28T17:42:33Z")

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> [@daemon](#):
>
> I saw it and I would pay for it, but only if it wouldn’t get available for free for all others. Why should I pay for something and all others have the benefit? In this case I’m an asshole and I know it.  
> I could live with it if someone would develop it and everyone who needs it would pay for a license, maybe as a lifetime license or monthly/yearly with support for updates and bugfixes.

That’s why it is open source. Do you feel uncomfortable using Discourse for free in the beginning? Considering you use it as a self-hosted solution like may of us do. Just think about how much it cost to develop this system to this day. In developer costs it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and yet both developers and community decided to share these developments with others, giving an example for everyone else to contribute further. Our [marketplace request](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-integration-for-translator-plugin/204665) will hopefully be merged to the original Translator plugin, which will make it free to use for everyone.

[Next page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deepl-support-for-discourse-translator/173614.md?page=2)
