Yes, Mastodon has a built-in translation system. If everything is working correctly, and if your server is offering the service, when you see a post in another language there will be a “Translate” link either underneath the post or in the post’s ⋯ menu.
To use the translation system, just click “translate” and it will show you a computer-translated version of the post in your own language.
I don’t see a translate option on a post in a foreign language. What is going on?
If you don’t see a translate option, there are several things that may not be working:
- Your server may not offer translation. The translation services cost money to run, and some server admins cannot afford it. If you would like them to offer the service, ask your admin about it and perhaps offer to donate towards it.
- Your own language settings may be incorrect. Make sure you have set your language preferences correctly.
- The person who wrote the post may have selected the wrong language setting. It’s important to set your own posting language correctly. If you post in a variety of languages, you can set your most common language as the default and set languages manually for posts where you use a different language.
- Your app may not support showing Mastodon’s translation links, check with your app’s developer if you’re unsure. The website, web apps, official apps and many third party apps support translation.
How do I set my post’s language? Can I change it manually? What do I do if I post in many languages?
If you’re writing in your default language and you’ve set your default posting language correctly, you don’t need to do anything extra as that language will be automatically set. You can tell what language your post is set to at the bottom of the post when you’re writing or editing it, which will show either the language’s name or its language code (for example “English” or “EN”).
If you’re posting in a language other than your default one, you can set your post’s language manually by clicking on the language button at the bottom of the post when you’re writing or editing it.
I’ve set the wrong language on my post, what do I do?
Don’t worry, you can edit a post to change its language setting if you need to.
Why doesn’t Mastodon use some kind of autodetection system for deciding which language a post is in?
Mastodon used to use autodetection, but apparently the system became unreliable when dealing with very short posts and was selecting the wrong languages. This led the developers to a manual system instead.
If you disagree with this stance and would like to see automatic detection brought back in some way, perhaps as an option, there is a discussion about it on the Mastodon Github ⧉ (the issue is closed but you can still comment on it, and issues can get reopened if needed).
Which apps is this available on?
It’s on the website interface, the web apps, the official apps and many third party apps.
Which providers does the translation system use?
Most Mastodon servers use the open source translation providers LibreTranslate ⧉ or DeepL ⧉.
These providers have free websites, so why are server admins paying for them?
The websites of these translation providers are free for ordinary people to use, but their API (the system which lets other sites access their translation service) costs money. That’s how these translation services cover their costs, by selling access to their APIs to other sites.
Sometimes I see a translate option and other times I don’t. Sometimes clicking translate causes an error. What is happening?
The translation providers’ API costs are usually based on a number of translations per month. If your server’s users are translating more than the monthly limit of translations, it may cause the translation system to stop working until the next month starts again.
If this is happening frequently you might want to ask your server’s admin about it, they may need to raise the number of queries per month. Higher quotas cost more, so you might want to also offer them a donation when you ask them about it.
Are translations 100% accurate?
Translations by computers are never 100% accurate, and you should bear this in mind when reading computer-translated posts on any platform. The accuracy of computer translations also tends to vary between languages.
Can server admins use self-hosted translation systems instead of an API?
Yes, but this takes up server resources and requires the admin to have technical knowledge to install and maintain it. Not all admins are techy people, many of them run their servers through managed hosting services ⧉ which handle the techy stuff.
Whatever translation system your server offers, please support your admin as it will be costing them time and money whatever they use.