If you use a translator in Second Life, you know recent changes at Google have caused several models of translators to fail. You also know that since 2012 the viewer’s built-in translator cannot be connected to the Bing or Google translation services as originally planned by the Lab. Viewer translation is essentially broken. We have to use an add-on.

JUSTICE COURTESY OF (wear)*katat0nik* (melon) Heart War Hammer Click to resize RARE by ▓▒░ TORLEY ░▒▓, on Flickr

Following this blog you’ve seen the recent previous articles. (See: Second Life: Metanomics Translator Failing.)

The new bit of information is that Cinder Roxley and other third party developers are working on fixing the problem with the viewer’s translator. We can expect to see a fix in the near future. But, it will likely takes weeks for the fix to filter through to the SL Viewer. I expect to see it in third party viewers before we see it in the SL Viewer.

Cinder is working with the Alchemy Viewer team. The blog is here: Alchemy Viewer Blog. Version Beta 3.7.23 was released December 2014. So, I would guess we will see the translator in Alchemy before it appears in other viewers, but that is my guess.

For today we have another solution to the problem. A new free translator is out by Hinaichigo Xaris. You can find it in the marketplace here. The promo says this version was built after the Google change, 4/12/2015 +/-, so it works.

I have a copy. It has no UI. It uses chat commands to change language. It is easy to do. But, you have to know the Google language codes to set a language. Fortunately you only need set your language. And when you click the translator HUD, a simple square, no buttons, you get the Google links so the language codes. Easy. Really. – Click, look, type /555 en (to set English), and you’re done. From then on just wear it.

The translator has language auto-detect. So, whatever language it hears it will convert to your language. That is enabled, if you have changed it, by typing /444 auto. You can also set it to only use a single language by typing /444 it (Italian).

There is an extra cost from Google for using auto-detect with their translation service. With this translator you don’t set up any account. So, I don’t understand how that is being handled. For now the translator and translation service are free.

The translator weights in at 1-script @ 70kb. The script is no copy, no mod, so I can’t see what it is doing.

Since there is no user ID code, I expect this translator to fail at some point. The viewer and other translation services require a personal ID and account with Google and Bing. But, for now it seems to work and is free. But, depending on how this script is talking to Google’s API, lots of people jumping on this unit will likely drive it to overload and for Google to shut it down. But, I don’t know that for a fact. We’ll just have to try it and see how long it lasts.

I think MH Translator has run into that problem of using a singe user ID. But, I’m not sure. I’m not going to spend L$395 to test it. But, recent reviewers are complaining of problems.

So, we’ll likely have to live with a translation problem for some time.