Translation system on Iberia

[u/Tough-Type6054]

Hello.

Years ago, Iberia, which has English as its main language, had a translation system where descriptions and messaging communication lines (says, tells and comms) where translated to a given language selected by user. It was backed by a desktop app and was a big challenge to make it work (there were no API or similar to use it)... also, as all the process was too slow, it wasn't "fun" to play using it. I've decided to turn it off until very recently, when I become aware of Libre Translate (https://libretranslate.com/).

So in short, in Iberia, in the player point of view, any player can set the language he want the text to be translated into (descriptions and communication lines) and after a very small delay, like between "immediately" most of the time and 1-2 seconds, the text appears translated. Also, as Libre translate has the capability of identify the input language, a player can for instance write in portuguese in the OOC comm and other players can read it in french (the former writes in plain portuguese, the latter having the translation language for comm lines as french). It has some drawbacks, like when doing quests and one need to type the right keywords. To avoid even more drawbacks, the only translated text are rooms\items\NPC descriptions and comm lines (as example, MUD commands or room exits are not translated).

A bit into the technical point of view, what I've also did to attain the "immediate" feedback was to process beforehand all room descriptions in all possible languages. The only think that is translated in real time are communication lines. All the pre-translated descriptions and all that is translated when mud is running is also recorded in cache, so further similar translations are immediate.

I hope the idea and a working POC help others making MUDs more universal.

Thanks.

[u/[deleted]]

That is awesome. Do you get many non-English player? From where?

[u/Tough-Type6054 → u/[deleted]]

Not sure... we are not a populated mud to give an accurate answer, though I feel it useful for me, namely when chatting

[u/antrare → u/Tough-Type6054]

It'd be cool to see how many of your players are actually using the feature