Ask HN: How do you handle small translations?
2 gethly 6 7/16/2025, 1:48:25 PM
In case you are running a multilingual website, how are you handling occasional need to translate few sentences into multiple languages?
I have invested a chunk of my time and money to support 9(as of now) languages for the web UI, but as times goes on and new features and changes are being made, I sometimes have a need to add new text here or there. Usually nothing long, 2,3,4.. sentences. A word here and there.
It makes no sense to bother individual translators with such a miniscule job. Agencies are insanely expensive(from my experience 4x of a price of an individual translator) and so I have resorted to basic google translate, which is unfortunately stuck in 2010 and does not produce good results.
I have not found any "fiver" alternative for this situation, so I am wondering if people are doing anything differently?
Personally I'm interested in Japanese and Chinese culture and I frequently find Japanese speakers engage with my photos on Bluesky so I frequently use it to read responses and write replies where: (1) I can specify tone and context, and then (2) I use a different chatbot to translate my reply back to English to check that it translates properly.
You're not bothering them if you're paying for the job. On your part, all you need to do is to set up a web-based interface that makes it easy and fast for them to log in and add the translations.