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Translation is not working as expected

As far as I can tell from reading the help pages, the Firefox translation feature should automatically translate any page in any available language, unless explicitly set not to do so. However, I observe that no translation occurs unless I first select text, right click, and select translate, and even then, the translation is presented as unformatted text in a separate dialog box, which is not much better than copying and pasting web pages into some other translator service. Am I missing something here?

Sadly, this is not even close to being competitive with the Google Translate level of functionality. I use Google Translate every day to read package labels in grocery stores, road signs, and a host of other written sources of information. Occasionally, I even use it to hold conversations with people I would not otherwise be able to talk to. So far, I am nearly monolingual, and I am unwilling to do without this; I probably wouldn't travel if it were not available. It does tie me to that fraction of the surface area of the earth where high speed internet access is generally available, but I don't really need to go any places where it is not; I am not trying to hike across Antarctica. I understand that there is a loss of privacy when dealing with Google, but I do whatever I can to fend that off, and the value of the free services I receive in exchange is huge. What's the future of Firefox in this respect?

As far as I can tell from reading the help pages, the Firefox translation feature should automatically translate any page in any available language, unless explicitly set not to do so. However, I observe that no translation occurs unless I first select text, right click, and select translate, and even then, the translation is presented as unformatted text in a separate dialog box, which is not much better than copying and pasting web pages into some other translator service. Am I missing something here? Sadly, this is not even close to being competitive with the Google Translate level of functionality. I use Google Translate every day to read package labels in grocery stores, road signs, and a host of other written sources of information. Occasionally, I even use it to hold conversations with people I would not otherwise be able to talk to. So far, I am nearly monolingual, and I am unwilling to do without this; I probably wouldn't travel if it were not available. It does tie me to that fraction of the surface area of the earth where high speed internet access is generally available, but I don't really need to go any places where it is not; I am not trying to hike across Antarctica. I understand that there is a loss of privacy when dealing with Google, but I do whatever I can to fend that off, and the value of the free services I receive in exchange is huge. What's the future of Firefox in this respect?

Chosen solution

It looks like Firefox currently grabs 1024 characters as a sample to identify the language of the current document:

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-release/source/toolkit/components/translation/LanguageDetector.sys.mjs

There are a lot of bugs and Requests for Enhancement related to language detection: Open Bugs in Translate Component

Ler a resposta no contexto 👍 1

All Replies (3)

Don't you have a translation icon in the address bar? Try to click the menu ≡ and select Translate page….

Helpful?

No, not always. 😄 I'd have figured that one out.

Allow me to clarify. Sometimes Translate works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Maybe Firefox is not recognizing that a page is in a language that needs translation, even though this is obvious to a human. If FF relies on formal cues embedded in web pages to help it decide whether to translate, then it is at the mercy of web authors and automated website building platforms for proper function.

Translation is a tough row to hoe. US English and UK English differ only enough to require different spell check dictionaries (although some would comically argue otherwise.) The differences between Portuguese in Brazil and Portugal, on the other hand, can be significant; Firefox Translate does not make the distinction, offering only a generic Portuguese option.

Among the languages recognized just within modern Spain, the languages Castilian and Catalan are available, but Aragonese, Aranese, Astur-Leonese, Basque, Ceutan Arabic (Darija), Valencian and Tamazightare are not addressed. We are left hoping that all Spanish web pages will be written only in Castilian and Catalan, or that humans will somehow overcome their own linguistic heterogeneity without help. That's a primitive, 20th-century response. Seamless automatic translation is an important feature, and may be pivotal to the future relevance of Firefox.

Helpful?

Chosen Solution

It looks like Firefox currently grabs 1024 characters as a sample to identify the language of the current document:

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-release/source/toolkit/components/translation/LanguageDetector.sys.mjs

There are a lot of bugs and Requests for Enhancement related to language detection: Open Bugs in Translate Component

Helpful?

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