Translate Discourse automatically (without a button)

I know we have a translation plugin but I suspect that top companies translates texts by default with no intervention because a very good reason: only a few clicks the buttons.

It’s possible to implement translation into a few languages on-the-go? Airbnb is very good example what I’m looking for.

In their app people write in their own language and APIs translates by default (showing an icon to read on the original language written).

That could be a major break in Discourse adoption and, of course, growing our communities :slight_smile:

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Have you tried the existing translation app much? Curious what you think.

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It don’t works with DeepL so it’s useless for our instance but we like and are looking for the automatic approach instead.

Pressing a button and loading more buttons on every single post isn’t a very good idea from UI/UX perspective (we have flag, like, share, bookmark over there).

Did you come up with some solution for this or did you drop the idea?

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Just dropped the idea after managing ~3 years our community. Little details change the entire experience.

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This is certainly a feature we are very interested in building. We are considering merging translation into Discourse AI because LLMs tend to be both cheaper and more flexible at this kind of job.

I agree that this kind of feature is very important, especially when it is coupled with language detection.

The downside is cost; you need to pass all text on the forum via an “is it English” check, but I can think of quite a few shortcuts here.

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Hi Sam,
great that you’re interested in that feature. Any update on this from Discourse side?

We’re trying to find a suitable solution for our Discourse instance, but haven’t found any go-to one yet. In our case it’s essential for our forum’s future, and I’d imagine quite many other communities would appreciate it as well :blush:

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It remains a feature we very very much want to work on, but do not have a concrete date about when it will land.

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Okay thanks @sam for the quick reply! I understand that this kind of bigger fundamental feature can take time. If you need beta users or sparring help, let me know :blush:

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