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Firefox built-in translation not working

CerebralDatabank
CerebralDatabank
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Whenever I visit a non-English webpage in Firefox (Quantum v58.0.2 x64 on Windows 10 Pro x64), the translate toolbar appears. I click "Translate", and it immediately fails, every time. Is this a problem with FF or the Microsoft Translate API? If it is a problem with MS, is there a way to make FF use the Google Translate API?

I have attached a "Before" and "After" screenshot. This issue also occurs in Safe Mode.

Thanks in advance!

The image upload thing isn't working, so I'll put links to the screenshots here:

Before: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sk0FFCTgbp1jCG_az_UDloMx2833LGrK/view?usp=sharing After: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ReWIg4Om9Dd2zl2rSSDkxMeoJGZk9fSU/view?usp=sharing

Whenever I visit a non-English webpage in Firefox (Quantum v58.0.2 x64 on Windows 10 Pro x64), the translate toolbar appears. I click "Translate", and it immediately fails, every time. Is this a problem with FF or the Microsoft Translate API? If it is a problem with MS, is there a way to make FF use the Google Translate API? I have attached a "Before" and "After" screenshot. This issue also occurs in Safe Mode. Thanks in advance! The image upload thing isn't working, so I'll put links to the screenshots here: Before: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sk0FFCTgbp1jCG_az_UDloMx2833LGrK/view?usp=sharing After: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ReWIg4Om9Dd2zl2rSSDkxMeoJGZk9fSU/view?usp=sharing
Attached screenshots

Modified by CerebralDatabank

Chosen solution

Hi CerebralDatabank, where did you hear about this built-in Bing Translator? When I enable that using a couple settings in about:config, I get the same error you do. It seems that certain required parameters might not be built into Firefox (such as the API key) and that this may be some groundwork for a future offering or left over from an experiment. For now, I think you will need to use an extension for translation.

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All Replies (3)

Shadow110
Shadow110
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Hi, No idea what the issue is. I do see far too many extensions though. I would think about disable/remove WOT as had a bad rep for selling information and replace with Norton Safe Web extension.

Please copy/paste translate (will know why say copy/paste if do not) into the Extension search and see if something there works better for you : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/extensions/

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

Hi CerebralDatabank, where did you hear about this built-in Bing Translator? When I enable that using a couple settings in about:config, I get the same error you do. It seems that certain required parameters might not be built into Firefox (such as the API key) and that this may be some groundwork for a future offering or left over from an experiment. For now, I think you will need to use an extension for translation.

CerebralDatabank
CerebralDatabank Question owner
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I think I somehow found those about:config entries while scrolling through them to see if I would find anything interesting.

This would be a nice feature to have in Firefox, as this is one of those essential features that force people to keep using Chrome.