# Translate Discourse automatically (without a button)
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** translator, ai
**Created:** [May 9, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450 "2023-05-09T19:31:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@satonotdead](https://meta.discourse.org/u/satonotdead)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/1 "2023-05-09T19:31:09Z")
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 🙂
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### Author:  [@sunjam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sunjam)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/2 "2023-05-10T03:03:15Z")
> [@satonotdead](#):
>
> I know we have a translation plugin
Have you tried the existing translation app much? Curious what you think.
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### Author:  [@satonotdead](https://meta.discourse.org/u/satonotdead)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2023, 7:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/3 "2023-05-10T07:25:06Z")
> [@sunjam](#):
>
> Have you tried the existing translation app much? Curious what you think.
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)._
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### Author:  [@FINDarkside](https://meta.discourse.org/u/FINDarkside)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2024, 6:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/4 "2024-09-03T18:17:56Z")
Did you come up with some solution for this or did you drop the idea?
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### Author:  [@satonotdead](https://meta.discourse.org/u/satonotdead)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2024, 3:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/5 "2024-09-10T03:26:07Z")
Just dropped the idea after managing ~3 years our community. Little details change the entire experience.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2024, 6:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/6 "2024-09-10T06:13:44Z")
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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### Author:  [@MiikkaLaitila](https://meta.discourse.org/u/MiikkaLaitila)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2024, 12:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/7 "2024-11-06T12:18:42Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> 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.
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 😊
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2024, 4:47am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/8 "2024-11-07T04:47:56Z")
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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### Author:  [@MiikkaLaitila](https://meta.discourse.org/u/MiikkaLaitila)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2024, 7:34am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/9 "2024-11-07T07:34:20Z")
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 😊
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### Author:  [@MiikkaLaitila](https://meta.discourse.org/u/MiikkaLaitila)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/10 "2025-01-23T14:24:17Z")
Just checking, any update on this @sam? We’re planning to test this ourselves at some point in spring, so any rough indication or guess could save time:)
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### Author:  [@tvavrda](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tvavrda)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/11 "2025-01-23T14:36:08Z")
How would it work? In what language would it store the text? How would search work? In AirBnB it is easy because we only have 2 languages for each conversation – the booker and the owner. So it can save the conversation in both languages and show the right one to each person. But e.g. Meta would have to be translated to any given language in order to appear localized to everyone? I also cannot imagine it would translate each topic on the fly as this could be expensive on high traffic sites.
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### Author:  [@pmusaraj](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pmusaraj)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/12 "2025-01-23T15:27:25Z")
We’re actively working on this. I don’t have an ETA for you, but I can say we are making good progress, our initial target is to have the topic page be translatable in full via a single global language toggle.
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### Author:  [@nat](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nat)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2025, 6:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/14 "2025-01-24T06:25:10Z")
We’re exposing this as an experimental feature in the upcoming weeks on our [discourse-translator](https://github.com/discourse/discourse-translator) plugin.
(Note: The translator plugin is currently available on our hosting for all enterprise customers)
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### Author:  [@tvavrda](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tvavrda)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2025, 12:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/15 "2025-01-24T12:24:28Z")
So would search work in the translated language? So e.g. for a Chinese Discourse based site I would see everything in English including search?
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### Author:  [@nat](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nat)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/16 "2025-01-24T18:20:50Z")
Search is very much a V2 or V3 feature (many months later, unsure), since our current search is only suitable for the post raw content and not multilingual.
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### Author:  [@satonotdead](https://meta.discourse.org/u/satonotdead)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/17 "2025-01-24T22:07:00Z")
> [@tvavrda](#):
>
> Meta would have to be translated to any given language in order to appear localized to everyone?
From the original to the user’s version: DeepL has a very good API, and their translation service is highly accurate.
I used it between english, spanish and portuguese. It seems a completely different world from Google or Apple Translate.
Here is a niche comparison:
> **[めちゃくちゃ精度が高いと話題の機械翻訳「DeepL翻訳」に日本語の翻訳機能が登場したので実際に使ってみた](https://gigazine.net/news/20200323-deepl-translator-japanese/)**
>
> 近年ではオンラインの翻訳サービスに機械学習が用いられるようになり、以前よりも格段に翻訳の精度が向上しています。2017年8月にサービスが開始された機械学習を用いたオンライン翻訳サービスの「DeepL翻訳」が、日本語と中国語の翻訳に新しく対応したとのことで、実際に日本語での翻訳機能を試してみました。
_Weglot_ is a third party that adds a beautiful layer to edit the translated text and improve it further.
I can’t suggest to use their service but the functionality seems to be a must for me. Currently looking for an ad-hoc solution on my servers.
~~May I know if I can test the new experimental plugin? I can provide detailed feedback from my experience in return.~~
I love how it looks and the added functionality. I just enabled `experimental_anon_language_switcher` [as described](https://github.com/discourse/discourse-translator/commit/48682c26c606d246157d93167235eb7e02026f78).
> _I know our forked theme experiment needs to be polished._
Thanks! I would love it if it translated the content for an optimal and final integration experience.
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### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/18 "2025-01-24T22:17:12Z")
As a Finn I have to say it is almost as bad as Google.
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### Author:  [@Renato\_Serra](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Renato_Serra)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2025, 8:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/19 "2025-02-21T08:54:26Z")
Also actively looking for this.
Was actually digging through the code to see how I could
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### Author:  [@nat](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nat)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2025, 3:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/21 "2025-07-10T03:50:19Z")
Hey, the feature announcement is just published at [Content Localization and Automatic Translations for Your Community](https://meta.discourse.org/t/content-localization-and-automatic-translations-for-your-community/370000). You may refer to the corresponding [docs](https://meta.discourse.org/t/content-localization-manual-and-automatic-with-discourse-ai/370969) on how to set this up.
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### Author:  [@nat](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nat)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/translate-discourse-automatically-without-a-button/264450/22 "2025-07-12T00:00:04Z")
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