March 21, 2008 at 12:58Idea: Solving the “Babylonian Problem” in IM
Yesterday, Google announced the release of the Google AJAX Language API , an API for accessing their text translation service.
Immediately the idea came up to create a plug-in for any of IM (preferably Pidgin :)) which transparently for the user translates his messages when talking with a foreign language person into his native language. And also in the opposite direction, what the foreigner writes is translated into the user's language. Such a "Babylonian fish."
The problems are immediately visible:
- slight delays in the transmission of messages caused by a constant call to the Google service
- increase in the amount of data transferred
- the API is provided for javascript, and plugins are written more often in compiled languages. Although, this is not such a big problem for our "lefties"
UPD:After some googling, it turned out that the idea is not new and some implementations already exist, for example ULRTMT for Skype. However, something universal, and especially Open-source, is not yet available. So this is a great place where you can make an effort. If someone is interested in this idea - maybe try?
UPD2: In the comments pointed to the translator plugin for Kopete. I do not know how it works, but it exactly meets all the requirements. So I think the question is completely closed, and the idea is useless and behind the progress by several years :). However, the proposal to create a similar plugin for Pidgin remains relevant. Thanks to all!
Immediately the idea came up to create a plug-in for any of IM (preferably Pidgin :)) which transparently for the user translates his messages when talking with a foreign language person into his native language. And also in the opposite direction, what the foreigner writes is translated into the user's language. Such a "Babylonian fish."
The problems are immediately visible:
- slight delays in the transmission of messages caused by a constant call to the Google service
- increase in the amount of data transferred
- the API is provided for javascript, and plugins are written more often in compiled languages. Although, this is not such a big problem for our "lefties"
UPD:After some googling, it turned out that the idea is not new and some implementations already exist, for example ULRTMT for Skype. However, something universal, and especially Open-source, is not yet available. So this is a great place where you can make an effort. If someone is interested in this idea - maybe try?
UPD2: In the comments pointed to the translator plugin for Kopete. I do not know how it works, but it exactly meets all the requirements. So I think the question is completely closed, and the idea is useless and behind the progress by several years :). However, the proposal to create a similar plugin for Pidgin remains relevant. Thanks to all!