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We know how Google and other big corporate companies track users. You probably know of the service Google Translate, which tracks you when you use it and not to mention it contacts proprietary services to complete the request. To ensure your online privacy there are 3 alternative FOSS options you can try to translate your text and get on with your life, without blindly allowing yourself to be tracked.
I would recommend trying libretranslate.com first, because it doesn't rely on any proprietary services. It is a 100% libre translation tool that utilizes a machine translation engine named Argos Translate written in Python from scratch, both licensed in AGPLv3.
Pros:
- Fully libre
- Doesn't talk to proprietary services
- Has language auto detect option (but experimental)
- Modern UI
- Easier and comfortable to use
Cons:
- Less supported languages (but you can add yours if you want!)
Bear in mind the last con, LibreTranslate has less languages. So if you find out that the language you need is not there, or the translation is not good, you'll have to try the next one, gtranslate.
If you have some spare time however, try contributing to LibreTranslate to improve the translation or add languages. It will benefit the community a lot and may serve you some purpose in future.
There is a project called gtranslate which provides a simple FOSS alternative frontend to access Google Translate service and to complete your translations. It contacts Google services but it does so on behalf of you (and probably through TOR on it's servers) so Google can't track you.* It's probably the best privacy respecting option if you absolutely have to use Google Translate for some reason.
https://gtranslate.metalune.xyz/
Pros:
- Doesn't require Javascript
- Has all the languages
- Simple UI
- Google can't track you*
- You can self host or even run on your own machine (optional)*
Cons:
- Doesn't have language auto detect
\* May depend on input. If you enter similar uncommon input that you entered while logged in to Google or from an identify-able browser session or have identify-able information about you in the input, they can track you. If you self host/run, use TOR on server side so that Google can't block your IP or track you. (Instructions available on project page.) If you use the above link, there's probably no strict need to use TOR, but using it will add extra security. If you have sensitive information about you that you want to translate, I'd advise you to at least use LibreTranslate (discussed previously) and probably self-host that if possible.
If you're using a Gemini browser, use this. It's similar to gtranslate and supports all the languages there. It also has language autodetect, so not a bad option.
gemini://translate.metalune.xyz/
Pros:
- Privacy respecting UI, ensured by Gemini protocol
- Minimal UI
- Has language auto detect option
Cons:
- Has problems with multi line input? (please test yourself though)
If you need to know what is Gemini or how to access pages on that protocol, check this article:
What's All The Hype About Gemini And How To Get On Board
So here are the 3 machine translation options you can start playing with right now. Let me know how you feel using them.