Translation

[Qaseem]

Adding a feature to translate posts
Similar to what's available on Twitter... there's a button to translate tweets.

Thank you

 

[Stuart Wright]

Adding a feature to translate posts
Similar to what's available on Twitter... there's a button to translate tweets.

Thank you

What mechanism would it use to translate the post?

 

[Mendalla]

Seems like an item for an add-on to me.

What mechanism would it use to translate the post?

I know from experience at work that Google Translate and Deepl both have APIs so you'd have to take the post to be translated and feed it through the API of the one you want, then display the returned result. Both charge over a certain amount a month (forget how they measure it offhand), though, which is why I suggest an add-on rather than base functionality. I wouldn't complain if XF added it, of course, just think it will happen sooner if a third party dev takes it on. Either way, sites that use it are going to have to have an API account with the translator they use because I can't see either XF or a dev simply providing the service.

 

[Stuart Wright]

If there is a cost every time a post is translated, how would you determine whether or not to omit some posts from translation?

 

[gigipmc]

I've done an add-on doing pretty much that for a client. It can translate into multiple languages, and can also optionally translate node names, DM's, and NF tickets and FAQ's. Yes it works with the Google API and can translate all existing posts and new ones as they are submitted/edited.

Depending on the volume of data you have, the API can get costly (it's just Google's pricing). It's best you study their pricing carefully and do a rough calculation of how much of an initial cost (for existing posts) plus cost per month (for upcoming posts) you'd be expecting. Translations are cached locally (with an optional expiry time) once they are already made.

 

[gigipmc]

If there is a cost every time a post is translated, how would you determine whether or not to omit some posts from translation?

You'd apply translations per node (a setting per node determining whether to translate posts in that specific forum).

 

[Qaseem]

@Stuart Wright @Mendalla @Mendalla

Hello
I'm sorry. My English isn't very good.

Thank you for your feedback on the suggestion.

Twitter used to use Google Translate.

When I saw tweets in English or French, etc., I would see a translation button directly below the tweet.

Now I've noticed that Twitter uses Grok to automatically translate tweets.

I didn't expect Google to charge for this service.

So, I suggest integrating this option into the XenForo settings, making it easier for forum owners to activate the feature with their chosen service provider, similar to the Google, Facebook, and Twitter login/registration options.
Until we find a third party that offers this service for free.
What do you think?

 

[Stuart Wright]

I think it’s probably always going to be a paid service.
Which I think is fine.
But any automatic solution will need to figure out how to check when to translate.
For example

1. Check browser primary language.
2. If browser language starts with en, do nothing.
3. If browser language is not English:
   • Run a lightweight PHP language detector.
4. Only if the detector thinks the post is non-English, send it to the AI.

 

[Matt C.]

Or run a local llm on your server, so you don't have to pay absurd API prices. Batched job queue would lower strain on the server.

 

[gigipmc]

But any automatic solution will need to figure out how to check when to translate.

The user has a universal setting (a select box) allowing him to choose if to translate content on the site and into what language (from the languages you are offering).

To be honest users who care about content being translated normally use a modern browser which offers to automatically translate pages (Google Chrome is the most prominent example). In house translation may be useful if you offer a PWA.

 

[CrazyChef]

[XenChef] Universal Translator - Automatic Post Translation

Jul 2, 2026

Premium automatic post translation for multilingual XenForo forums.

• CrazyChef
• deepl forum translation international language multilingual posts translation translator
• Add-ons [2.x]