Chat Translator
Chat Translator uses LibreTranslate to translate chat messages in Minetest.
In order to use this mod, LibreTranslate will need to be installed and running on your
Minetest server. LibreTranslate can be installed and started with a single command:
"docker run -ti --rm -p 5000:5000 libretranslate/libretranslate"
Alternative installation methods can be found here: LibreTranslate Installation
In order to run Chat Translator, you will also need to add the mod to your
trusted mods list. To do so, click on the 'Settings' tab in the main menu.
Click the 'All Settings' button and in the search bar, enter 'trusted'.
Click the 'Edit' button and add 'chat_translator' to the list.
Once everything is installed and running, Chat Translator will attempt to translate all chat
messages sent on your server. The language in which each player receives messages is
determined by the language selected in the Minetest settings menu.
In this image, the player in the upper right corner sent a message in English.
On the upper left, the message is translated to Spanish. On the lower left,
the message is received in German and on the bottom right, the message is
displayed in French.
Helps break down language barriers between global communities
This concept is highly anticipated, but members have had concerns about getting it up and running. Primarily, there are two issues pointed out frequently:
Administrators that see mods needing secure.http_mods or secure.trusted_mods access causes a lot of worry that it will be a failure point for stability and safety, even if it uses an API client from the LibreTranslate service instead of Micros($)oft or Alphabet's Google. If you could explain how it might be possible to have a completely offline version of this or another translator service, or explain in more detail how http calls to localhost:5000/languages works in the mod description, and running podman, more servers would surely gain confidence in using this mod to allow non-native players to naturally communicate with each other. Additionally, a way to permanently save and cache all queries and responses to drastically reduce the http calls needed over a period of time would help bridge the gap to allowing a semi or fully-offline translation service.
Everyone that has used translators has eventually come across some major shortcomings in how the translator perceives meaning, where it cannot successfully get the point across, or it just doesn't understand an advanced word or concept in one language to be able to explain that in another. It would be a very good idea to allow the user to see the original message paired with the LibreTranslate message at the same time configurably, or on demand in order for the player to take mistranslated phrases and questions and try them on another service, as well as the possibility of considering a reviewing and feedback system for each query. It would also be good to incorporate a system which, if the translator has failed or is inaccurate, each individual word is translated and shown to the user as a | delimited | message | so the user may still be able to piece together what was meant, as well as learn the language much more easily.
Thank you for your time.