Option to use Automatic Language Translation of Displayed Posts
planned
Otoa Kiyori
Do you have a future plan to add automated post text translation? If the users can see the feed in the language they are used to read (based on their preferred language setting) I think they'd use Primfeed a lot more.
Some residents from Japan that I know expressed that if the feed is mostly just in English only, they may not be (and cannot be because of the barrier, similar to TLDR effect) too active on Primfeed.
If this automated translation is implementted, this is not only going to be a unique feature of Primfeed but it also should greatly increase the userbase not only from Japan but from many other countries since something like 40% of total population in SL are from non-English speakers according to https://www.similarweb.com/website/secondlife.com/#traffic
The translatoin does not have to happen everytime someone with different langauge sees a post (very costly). The Primfeed system could do translation initially first, but then the translated text can be stored on either server cache or more permanent storage for redisplay to reduce latency and translation cost. Obviously, this can be optional for the user who do not want to use the feature. Also it could be an option for posters (not allow translations) either per post or all future posts setting or both. This also could be tied to Primfeed account tier (paid / unpaid) probably on poster side.
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Rhiannon Tamerlane
Otoa Kiyori - I support translation as well, 100% I am curious about one thing, though - you mentioned it could be an option for posters to not allow translations - why do you want that? What benefit is there to Primfeed or its users for someone to be able to post and disable any translation service?
I would like to understand.
Otoa Kiyori
Rhiannon san, thank you for the response and the question.
So, this is my reasoning. The option to allow/disallow translation by poster on their posts was meant to let posters choose to post something specifically for those who understand certain languages and nuances. It is like a hint to the readers. I simply wanted to leave that choice to the one who are sending the message, allowing them to choose to keep how things are without transaltions like today.
Also, my suggestion to tie that option to choose (to allow/disallow translation) to subscribers was so that Primfeed could promote subscriptions, making it beneficial to Primfeed if this feature led to more subscriptions or helped retain current subscribers (and so the added cost could be covered).
If the cost to impelement or run this feature was too much for Primfeed, I was also thinking about suggesting translation feature itself only to subscribers (thus reducing the operation cost a little), but then, that might limit the benefit to too few people, and making this feature not too beneficial to anyone including Primfeed for the effort, and making this feature not very meaningful.
But in the end, in what styles and options Primfeed decides to implement is all up to Luke-san and his team 😋 They’ve been generous and making good changes one after another, so I trust their decisions more than whatever I suggested here (including if they would actually implement this or not). Automatic translation could be very expensive and it might not be feasable, you know 😅 and I think his team is analyzing benefits vs cost right now.
Teal Aurelia
Merged in a post:
Language switch option
T
TeaganDawnbringer Resident
Not all speak english on a high enough level, some people have another native language -in my case Spanish, not alone here tho-
Some sadly refuse to learn english or have to rely on a translator to understand. Primfeed seems like a really inclusive platformm I'd gladly help translate to Spanish if needed
Teal Aurelia
Merged in a post:
Translation to the main languages
Alelangel Rookswood
I think Primfeed need to have translations for the menus and some post, at least the main languanges as spanish, portuguese, french, italian, japanese, chinese...
Fullperm Alpha
Could be done automatically via chatgpt - static or dynamic. Upvoted.
Rhiannon Tamerlane
Fullperm Alpha- I think Google's translation system could be used as well? Or the one Facebook uses?
Fullperm Alpha
Rhiannon Tamerlane The Facebook one seems to be quite good yes. I did not investigate much with different translation systems but noticed that the chatgpt translation is surprising good so i am using it sometimes.
Rhiannon Tamerlane
Fullperm Alpha - Thank you for mentioning ChatGPT as a translation system; I wasn't aware of it. I do use Google Translate sometimes for comments in French - I'm functionally bilingual but sometimes nuances are lost on me in more involved text. I don't have enough skill in any other languages to be able to evaluate the quality of Google Translate in those languages. I'll definitely have a look at ChatGPT.
Luke Rowley
planned
This is planned, yes! In the near future, Primfeed will be available in different language, and in a second time, users will be able to translate posts' content
Otoa Kiyori
Luke Rowley This is wonderful! 😊 Thank you!!!