<![CDATA[Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak.]]>Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. To use it, just click on "Translate" below a post (on some apps the translate option may be in the post's ⋯ menu).

I've tried to answer common questions about Mastodon's translation feature in this guide:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/is-there-a-built-in-language-translation-system-on-mastodon

Let me know in the replies if I've missed your question.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/5a64992d-f7b5-4c3f-b611-6cb5a4135a8c/mastodon-has-an-optional-translation-system-to-translate-posts-in-languages-that-you-don-t-speak.RSS for NodeTue, 08 Sep 2026 08:21:14 GMTThu, 27 Aug 2026 18:55:23 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:07:24 GMT]]>@Katerclochard

You would have to ask LibreTranslate about how they do things. They have technical details on their Github page at https://github.com/LibreTranslate/LibreTranslate

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117194990841134038https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117194990841134038Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:07:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:41:47 GMT]]>@FediTips
Libre Translate ergibt aber teilweise unverständliche Sätze. Übersetzen die ohne KI?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/ap/users/116522328345652636/statuses/117189699658776470https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/ap/users/116522328345652636/statuses/117189699658776470Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:41:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:57:52 GMT]]>@dj3ei

The easiest quickest way is to copy-paste the text into your favourite translation service's website.

Have to be really really careful and polite if you're going to tell people they have the wrong language setting because it may seem a bit irritating, especially if more than one person says this to them. And of course new people won't know about this language setting.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117188347314147469https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117188347314147469Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:57:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:58:50 GMT]]>@dj3ei

The translation runs on the server of the person clicking "translate", so yes it's the reader's server that pays.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117188338441601842https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117188338441601842Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:58:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:43:33 GMT]]>@Katerclochard

Yeah, just to make clear, Mastodon doesn't do the actual translation itself, it allows admins to connect their server to a third party translation service.

The name of the service should be visible when you use the translate button.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117188279529490635https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117188279529490635Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:43:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sun, 30 Aug 2026 20:19:06 GMT]]>@FediTips
Warum ist die Übersetzung in Mastodon oft so schlecht, daß ich den Text kopieren muss und in deepL übersetze, um ihn zu verstehen?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/ap/users/116522328345652636/statuses/117186307465447121https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/ap/users/116522328345652636/statuses/117186307465447121Sun, 30 Aug 2026 20:19:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sun, 30 Aug 2026 10:32:34 GMT]]>@dj3ei @FediTips both use libre translate, so "just" the server resources to run it. The main one is storage space for all the language combinations.
For both our options there is no additional cost over the existing servers that were already being used for other things.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/M0YNG/statuses/117184001133286023https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/M0YNG/statuses/117184001133286023Sun, 30 Aug 2026 10:32:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sun, 30 Aug 2026 10:30:02 GMT]]>@M0YNG @FediTips

How much does it cost, per month or per translated message?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/dj3ei/statuses/117183991181268351https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/dj3ei/statuses/117183991181268351Sun, 30 Aug 2026 10:30:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:25:02 GMT]]>@dj3ei @FediTips reader. In our case we have both translate.fedviverse.radio and radio social.de translation facilities available

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/M0YNG/statuses/117183735590309074https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/M0YNG/statuses/117183735590309074Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:25:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:08:29 GMT]]>@FediTips

Which server's admin pays? Is the translation done by the server of the toot's author or by that of the toot's reader? (I suspect the latter.)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/dj3ei/statuses/117183670463786049https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/dj3ei/statuses/117183670463786049Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:08:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:06:49 GMT]]>@FediTips

What is the easy way to use the translation system on a toot whose author set the toot's language wrong?

Afaik, doesn't exist. The easiest way might be to kindly ask the author to correct the setting.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/dj3ei/statuses/117183663933483495https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.radio/users/dj3ei/statuses/117183663933483495Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:06:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sat, 29 Aug 2026 07:44:31 GMT]]>@FediTips @Brett_E_Carlock Thanks. I do like the 'yet'.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/NellytheWillow/statuses/117177678017693676https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/NellytheWillow/statuses/117177678017693676Sat, 29 Aug 2026 07:44:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:47:21 GMT]]>@Logical_Error

It depends what you're using to access Mastodon, some third party apps may support doing that. The guide in the original post only covers Mastodon's built-in system, but Mastodon is deliberately open to being used through third party software that can do things differently.

(And of course you can copy-paste text into whatever translation system you prefer.)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117176509471363221https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117176509471363221Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:47:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:45:36 GMT]]>@FediTips oh! i assumed that on device offline translation was used

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/Logical_Error/statuses/117176502591716170https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/Logical_Error/statuses/117176502591716170Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:45:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:39:49 GMT]]>@Brett_E_Carlock @NellytheWillow

Yup, what Brett said 👍️

Third party apps may have it but the official app and web interface don't yet.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117176479890701420https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117176479890701420Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:39:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:38:55 GMT]]>@shonin

Your server admin may be able to help you with that, for your server that is @ooo

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117176476333272066https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117176476333272066Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:38:55 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:38:07 GMT]]>@Logical_Error

The owner of the server has to pay for the translation service, so doing it automatically could drain your server of the money it needs to keep running.

Servers rely on the support of their users to keep going, as they don't carry any ads or sell anyone's data.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117176473215188016https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.growyourown.services/users/FediTips/statuses/117176473215188016Sat, 29 Aug 2026 02:38:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:52:37 GMT]]>@FediTips possible to have this done automatically for all text?

would be nice if things were auto translated for me on the fly and marked as such

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/Logical_Error/statuses/117170160126769360https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/Logical_Error/statuses/117170160126769360Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:52:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Thu, 27 Aug 2026 21:41:49 GMT]]>@FediTips I always get an error message with that click (waterfox on MacOs). But it's okay -- waterfox has a translate box in the right click menu. Hopefully whatever's going on will vanish in due course. Mastodon forever!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://c.im/ap/users/116494732682004062/statuses/117169645788068437https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://c.im/ap/users/116494732682004062/statuses/117169645788068437Thu, 27 Aug 2026 21:41:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Thu, 27 Aug 2026 19:33:43 GMT]]>@Brett_E_Carlock @FediTips Thanks. I thought that was probably the case.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/NellytheWillow/statuses/117169142046315825https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/NellytheWillow/statuses/117169142046315825Thu, 27 Aug 2026 19:33:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Thu, 27 Aug 2026 19:29:44 GMT]]>@NellytheWillow
@FediTips
Some clients, like FediLab on Android, will have a button to do just that.

Not aware of one for web/desktop at present, though.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Brett_E_Carlock/statuses/117169126400627924https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Brett_E_Carlock/statuses/117169126400627924Thu, 27 Aug 2026 19:29:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak. on Thu, 27 Aug 2026 19:22:32 GMT]]>@FediTips Is it possible to translate people's bio?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/NellytheWillow/statuses/117169098069577069https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/NellytheWillow/statuses/117169098069577069Thu, 27 Aug 2026 19:22:32 GMT