Unable to translate language in web browser

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#1

Some time ago (I think it was 2019 and earlier) it was possible for me to use the language translation facilities of my web browser to read the German section of the forum.

However since that time something changed with the forum software and I have been unable to do this translation. I mostly read your forum on my iPad and initially used Microsoft Translator, and more recently the inbuilt translator of Safari, but none of these have worked for the last year or so on your site.

I hope this is a simple problem to fix as I enjoy browsing your forum and it is frustrating not being able to read the parts in other languages.
Regards

#2

I've checked with other Discourse-based forums and it seems to be a limitation of Microsoft Translator. However, using latest iOS 14.3 it's possible to translate via Safari's inbuilt translator without problems.

#3

Florian, thanks for looking into this.

My iOS version is 14.3 (the latest) but the built in Safari Translate option is not offered on non-English forum pages unfortunately :frowning:

#4

I've asked for additional input on the official Discourse Meta, the community around this forum software, and was recommended to use Google Chrome which also offers built-in translation.

I gave it a quick try (I usually don't use Chrome) and it seems to be working. Here is a link to the discussion for future reference.

#5

Do you speak about this option (between + and :star:)?
The place where you can choose your source and destination languages?

Google Chrome Translate
Google Chrome Translate1447×289 48 KB

If you don't get this icon automatically, you can right click on a topic and choose "Auf English übersetzen". If you click on the 3 vertical dots, you can choose your source and target languages.

#6

Thanks @LyricsLover , it's good to know! However, I think the OP was referring to Safari on iPad :slight_smile:

1 Like
#7

I might be spending a little too much time on that — but hey, it's the weekend :sunglasses:

A new idea: can you check what you have at Settings → General → Languages & Region → Preferred Language Order and if adding English and/or German changes anything?

#8

Yes it does. But it only allows me to translate the web page into German unfortunately.
Here is an English page:

image
image2048×1536 415 KB

And here is that page translated to German:

image
image2048×1536 313 KB

As you can see, only the headings have been translated.

On a forum page when viewing a German post, the translation menu item only offers a translation into German.

It is as though items on the page have hidden language flags identifying (incorrectly) the language the item is written in.

This is not an urgent problem (it has taken me over a year to mention it!) and I appreciate the time you are taking over this.

Thanks again