Is this possible ?

[Manual]

Hi !

I have a few pre-sales questions ... I have vBulletin 4.0.8 forum ... and I am interesting to buy vBET ...

1. Translate from Google Translate API v1 to Microsoft Translate API ?

My forum are in Croatian language (very similar to Serbian or Bosnian language).
Google Translate support Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian languages, but Microsoft Translate API DOES NOT support any of this languages ...

Can I translate my forum with Google Translate API v1 from Croatian language to English language ... and then translate my forum from English to all other Microsoft Translate API supported languages ?

2. If this is not possible ... Can I do it manually from MySQL databases ... to translate DB data table from English to other languages with MS Translate API ... Is this possible with vBET ?

Or ... with some other script ... or ... in some other way to do it ?

3. Google Translate API v2 is a very expensive service for me ( and probably for all those who have a medium and large sized forum ) .. GT_API_v2 ... 1 M characters = $20 ... ?!?!? ...

I have in vb4 DataBase ... only in table "post" ... in "pagetext" ... CHAR_LENGHT ... 330 M characters ...

SELECT SUM(CHAR_LENGTH(pagetext))
FROM post

In other DB tables ... like table "thread" ... title ... keywords ... table "tag" ... table "phrase" ... other vb plugins ...

Let's say that my forum has a total of 500 million characters ... Google Translate API v2 ... to translate my forum to only one other language ... It will cost me ... (1 M = $20) ... 500 M = $10.000 dollars

If I translate my forum to TOP 20 languages ... It will cost me ... 20 x 500 M = $200.000 dollars

Who will pay that much money for this ? ... I know ... I WILL NOT !


Conclussion : Google must change this to ... 1 M characters = max $1 dollar

Am I wrong ?


4. Is it possible to translate only some forums ... not all forum and all forums ?


Thanks to answers,

Manual

[vBET]

Hi.

1. In vBET you can configure which translation provider you want to use for each translation language pairs. Still vBET do not support double translations at this time. So if translation provider is not supporting specific language you will be not able to use it to translate from or to this language.

2. Not right now. vBET do not changes vBulletin data. We use our own cache and that is all. vBET provides tools - like adding BBCode to already existing messages. But we do not have tool which would change the data and such tool would be potentially dangerous, because you would loose your original content.

3. 1M characters means 1 000 000 characters. Please note that Google API v1 is still open but they put restrictive limits which ends really fast right now. Also vBET supports Microsoft Translation API which is still free and they also have some limits. If you know any other free API which Terms of Service will not disallow its usage in vBET please point it and we will gladly add support for it.

Please note that you do not have to turn on all supported languages. vBET allows to configure which languages should be active.

Please note that you should go with your conclusion in other place - to Google. We completely agree that it would be better if Google translation would be cheaper or even better if it would be still free. Still it is not up to us and we can do nothing with it. Please send your conclusions to Google - we hope that they will consider it.

4. vBET allows to determine pages which should be ignored by translation engine. You can determine it by giving part of URL - each UURL which includes given text will be ignored by vBET.

If you have any more questions - please just ask. We realize that at this moment buying vBET is not so easy decision as it was before Google get paid.

[Manual]

Yes ... You are right ... I will go to Google to post this conclussion ... but Google's targets is not forums ... only a small to medium CMS web pages & blogs ...

I know what I will do ... first ... translate all forum to 50+ languages ... till 1st Dec 2011 ...

... second ... manually with MySQL and some other tools ... translate my all forum to English ... and switch to MS Translator API ... to translate to other 35 languages ...

My members from Croatia, Serbia & Bosnia ... can still use Google Translator (free service) ... JavaScript on top of the forum ... to translate forum from English to EXYU languages ...

Question ...

5. How Google translate my forum ... vBET send words to google ... and receive translated words and cache ... or how ?

6. How long it takes Google to translate my whole forum to 53 languages ... one month ... two month ... ?

How much words ( or characters ) Google Translate API v1 translate per day ?

[vBET]

Please nota that translation by Google free service translator on the top of the forum by JavaScript will not produce results which will be indexed. The only way for users to get those will be to already know your forum understand at least a little of content which is in foreign language for them and then click to translate. This is the issue with this solution - people must already understand a bit what they see to motivate them to click translation. They will not find it translated in search engines. So at the end - people who are interested and will search for your topic in foreign language will not find your forum. That is why vBET was created - to change it and to provide translated content to those what are looking your topic.

Please note that vBET allows to use several translation APIs in same time. As I wrote before you can configure for each language pair which provider should translate it. So even if you want to use Google v1 until it is closed we still recommend to use it together with Microsoft Translation API - to avoid to fast reach of limits.

5. Exactly. After it is cached vBET uses cache.

6. Have no idea. It depends on your forum traffic. Faster people/robots will go to your translated page, faster it will be cached. But do not use any your own robots for that - it is not allowed. Also you have to add here limits which appears to be shorter and shorted - Google v1 prepares to be closed.

Also have no idea. As I just wrote it appears that limits are more restrictive when we are closer to closing time. Please look in Google resources for this answer. We do not want to mislead anyone by giving some old information.

[Manual]

Please note that vBET allows to use several translation APIs in same time. As I wrote before you can configure for each language pair which provider should translate it. So even if you want to use Google v1 until it is closed we still recommend to use it together with Microsoft Translation API - to avoid to fast reach of limits.

I'm glad to hear that option ... language pair ...

If I understand correctly ... I ask that you confirm the following solutions :

In vBET Admin Control Panel options I can do the this :

1a) translate with Google Translate API v1 ... from Croatian language to English ...

1b) translate with Microsoft Translate API ... from English language to all other 35+ languages

Whether it is better ... since Google only available for two months .... above solution ... or this down solution ?

2a) translate with Google Translate API v1 ... from Croatian language to (6 languages) English, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish & French

2b) translate with Microsoft Translate API from English to 5 languages ... Spanish to 5 languages ... Italian / German / Polish / French to 5 languages ...


I have vBSEO 3.6.0 & vBSEO Sitemap Generator ... Whether they accelerate the translations or not ?

I have more Google Bots daily than Bing / MSN Bots ... and I think this is another solution better than the first .... or maybe not ... what do you think ... maybe the first solution is better because Google stop API v1 very soon ?

Thanks for your suggestions.

[vBET]

Please note that in Admin CP you have options for Google to specify which version you want to use v1 or v2. You have also option which allows you to specify do you want to use only Google or other providers too. When it is set to use other providers, then by default when it is possible then Microsoft is used. Still you can reconfigure it and set translation provider for each language pair - this configuration is done in configuration files not in Admin CP. It is 53x53 combinations so too many for Admin CP, but still easy - simply for each language you have separate table in separate configuration file where you set mapping - for example you have separate file for mapping from Polish and there is table where keys are "to" language codes and values are provider names. This way you can configure your translation provider for each language pair. So not everything is made by Admin CP, but still easy to configure.

1a) and 1b) I think you do not understand - you cannot set translation flow. vBET do not supports double translations. Only one translation per request. From message language to request language. You cannot have any translation in the middle. So yes you can set Google to translate from Croatian to English. And yes you can set to translate from English to other supported by Microsoft by Microsoft (it is enough to set 1 option for this - allow to use other providers). Still it will not do double translation. Messages which are written in English will be translated by Microsoft. Messages which are written in Croatian will be translated by Google (to all languages you turned on, because Microsoft do not supports Croatian.

2a) and 2b) i really do not understand how those two options are exclusive. You have your forum in Croatian? - then you must use Google. You have your forum in English - then you can use which one you want Microsoft or Google. If you have forum in 2 languages - then you will have to choose which language is default, mark messages in other language (we have robot for this - it is in beta stage now and will be released soon) and then you will have to use Google for Croatian and you can use Microsoft for the rest. But all messages which ware written in Croatian will be translated by Google to any requested translation - Microsoft do not support this language.

If you have sitemap and you will integrate it with vBET, then you can expect that boots will go faster to your translated pages. Still if you have very huge traffic and lot of content then please be aware about limits on free APIs. Most probably you will reach it very fast. Booth Google v1 and Microsoft have daily limits. In Google v2 you can set it as you want since you pay for it and limits are only to control your own expenses. So it can be wise to turn on first only 2 languages - default + one other. And then after your cache fills add one by one new languages. If you really have huge traffic and lot of content to translate then it is possible that you will reach your limits fast even with only 2 languages turned on. It is not up to us - Google was more user friendly before. Now they just cut v1 and puts limits... But it is something what you can check in live or made some calculations and assumptions about daily traffic to new translated pages (after first translation you already have it cached).

[Manual]

I think ... this product is not for me ... because my forum are in Croatian language ... and I can use Only Google ...

I do not pay for Google Translate API v2 translations ...

If I install this product now ... I can only be used to 1st Dec 2011 ... and then uninstall ... only I have got is little more visitors & members ...


How do I translate the forum ... new posts from Croatian to other languages ... after Google switch off free tranlsation GT API v1 ?

Answer = no way

[Simon Lloyd]

If your forum is small then you will be able to use the paid version of Googles API, i have just installed it and you can set limits in google's api console for how many characters a day can be translated and also how many characters persecond/per user (thats is to say the number of characters per second per translation call), it has all the monitoring you need too so you can see how many charatcers you are using and when. So you can set your spend limit and monitor how it goes, if you are only interested in just a few translated languages then you will not have to set your spend limit too high, i currently get areound 200,000 visitors per month, for now i've limited my spend to 100,000 characters a day and i'm suporting 32 languages, so thats $2 per day, i'll monitor which languages are being called at my forum (you can see this in the google stats for your api) and then turn more languages off that are not being called for, i may have to extend my daily spend because of the amount of visits i get but you could probably reduce yours further.

And remember, microsoft are adding new languages along the way so it's all good

[vBET]

Answer = using other API

There is way which is already supported in vBET - it is Google v2. So there is a way - not anyone want to pay, but the way exists. Of course I understand that you do not want to use paid API.

Also please note that we are searching for other translation APIs - so is you know some then let us note. It is OK for their Terms Of Service we will gladly add support for other APIs to vBET