Mastodon has an optional translation system to translate posts in languages that you don't speak.

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

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.

#FediTips #Mastodon #Translation

[nellythewillow@mastodon.social]

@FediTips Is it possible to translate people's bio?

[brett_e_carlock@mastodon.online]

@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.

[nellythewillow@mastodon.social]

@Brett_E_Carlock @FediTips Thanks. I thought that was probably the case.

[shonin@c.im]

@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!

[logical_error@fosstodon.org]

@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

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@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.

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@shonin

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

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@Brett_E_Carlock @NellytheWillow

Yup, what Brett said ️

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

[logical_error@fosstodon.org]

@FediTips oh! i assumed that on device offline translation was used

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@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.)

[nellythewillow@mastodon.social]

@FediTips @Brett_E_Carlock Thanks. I do like the 'yet'.

[dj3ei@mastodon.radio]

@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.

[dj3ei@mastodon.radio]

@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.)

[m0yng@mastodon.radio]

@dj3ei @FediTips reader. In our case we have both translate.fedviverse.radio and radio social.de translation facilities available

[dj3ei@mastodon.radio]

@M0YNG @FediTips

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

[m0yng@mastodon.radio]

@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.

[katerclochard@mstdn.social]

@FediTips
Warum ist die Übersetzung in Mastodon oft so schlecht, daß ich den Text kopieren muss und in deepL übersetze, um ihn zu verstehen?

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@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.

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@dj3ei

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