Translating a page
Translation runs on the machine, through what the system already has: no key, no quota, and nothing sent to anybody. A language pack is downloaded once and then works offline.
⌘⇧L | translate the page |
⌥⇧T | translate the selection |
| View ▸ Translate Page / Translate Selection… | the same thing |
The control lives in the address field, because that is where you go to ask for a translation. When a page is not in your language, it offers itself.
While it works
A bar appears above the page — not Savoia pixels at the end of a long address, but a sentence where the page is:
Downloading <language> — this continues in the background | the system is missing a language pack. It reports no byte count, so the bar does not invent one |
Translating into <language>… | in progress, with how much of it is done |
| the error, with its reason | and a Try Again button |
What is on screen is translated first, then the page outward from it, up and down alike; the top and the bottom of a long page come last.
Stop ends it. The bar goes when there is nothing left to say: a finished translation is visible in the address field and speaks for itself.
The original and the translation
Show Original and Show Translation flip the page back and forth. The translation is not thrown away — it is a toggle, not a stop.
Always Translate <language> remembers the decision for that language.
What it will not do
- if the system has not got the language, Savoia says so and where to add it: System Settings › General › Language & Region › Translation Languages;
- a pair the system does not have at all is reported as such;
- a page with nothing to translate yet (still loading) says so;
- sometimes the page’s language cannot be told — then pick it yourself through Translate to….