Literal Translator

Omeka S module adding a translate button to every literal value on the resource form. Pick a target language, and the DeepL translation is added as a new value of the same property, tagged with that language.

Why

Multilingual metadata in Omeka S is a matter of repeating a value once per language, each with its own language tag. Doing that by hand means copying the text, translating it somewhere else, adding a value, pasting, and typing the language code — for every value, in every language.

This module does the same thing in two clicks, without leaving the form. It translates one value at a time, when an editor asks for it, and the result is an ordinary value that can be corrected before the resource is saved. It does not translate in bulk or in the background, and it never touches a value you did not click on.

On the resource form

Open an item, item set or media for editing. Every text value has a new button, directly below the Annotate value button:

1. Click the translate button. A sidebar opens with the value, its source language — taken from the value's language field — and a list of target languages. The source language is left out of that list, since there is nothing to translate a Dutch text into Dutch for.
2. Choose a target language and click Add translation.
3. The translation appears as a new value directly below the original, with the language field set to the language you chose, and the sidebar closes.

Nothing is stored until you save the resource, exactly as with a value you typed yourself. So read the translation, fix what needs fixing, and remove it again if it is no use.

A value without a language is fine: DeepL detects what it is written in. If that turns out to be the language you asked for, you are told so and no value is added.

DeepL is asked for plain text. Left to itself it sets the titles of publications in Markdown italics — an editor of the *Winkler Prins* — and in a metadata value those asterisks are just asterisks.

Only values of the data type Text (literal) get the button. URIs and linked resources have nothing to translate, and value annotations are left alone.

The module works with the core resource form and with Advanced Resource Template, including its option to show the value buttons as a column instead of a More actions menu.

Languages

Out of the box the sidebar offers Dutch (nl), English (en), German (de) and French (fr). The list is an array in config/module.config.php:

'literaltranslator' => [
    'target_languages' => [
        'nl' => 'Dutch', // @translate
        'en' => 'English', // @translate
        'de' => 'German', // @translate
        'fr' => 'French', // @translate
    ],
],

The key is the code written into the language field of the new value; the label is what the sidebar shows. Add any language DeepL can translate into.

For English, Portuguese and Chinese, DeepL wants to know which variant to write. The module keeps the short code in your metadata and asks DeepL for British English (EN-GB), European Portuguese (PT-PT) and simplified Chinese (ZH-HANS). If you would rather have another variant, use its full code as the key — 'en-us' => 'English (US)' — and that is what DeepL is asked for and what the value is tagged with.

Installation

Download the release zip, unzip it into Omeka's modules/ directory as LiteralTranslator, and install it from Modules in the admin. Or from source:

cd /path/to/omeka-s/modules
git clone https://github.com/coret/Omeka-S-module-LiteralTranslator.git LiteralTranslator

There is nothing to build and no composer install to run: the module has no dependencies of its own.

Requires Omeka S 4.0 or later and PHP 8.1 or later.

Configuration

The module needs a DeepL API key. Create an account for the DeepL API — the free plan translates 500,000 characters a month — and copy the authentication key from your account page. Then click Configure next to the module in the admin and paste it in.

Keys of the free plan end in :fx; the module sees that and uses DeepL's free endpoint. There is nothing else to choose.

The key is stored in Omeka's settings and is never sent back to the browser: the configuration form only says whether one is stored. Leave the field empty to keep the current key, or tick Remove the stored key to delete it. Uninstalling the module removes it as well.

Who can translate

Anyone who can edit resources: global and site administrators, editors, reviewers and authors. Researchers cannot.

The translate endpoint only answers a signed-in user with one of those roles, and only a request carrying the CSRF token of the resource form it was made from — every translation counts against your DeepL quota, so another website must not be able to trigger one.

Privacy

The text of a value is sent to DeepL when, and only when, an editor clicks Add translation for it. Nothing else leaves your server: no resource identifiers, no user details. Whether DeepL keeps the text depends on your plan; see DeepL's privacy policy.

What it depends on

Nothing beyond Omeka S itself.

• The DeepL API is called with the HTTP client Omeka already ships, not with an SDK.
• The button's icon comes from the Font Awesome that Omeka's admin theme already loads.
• The sidebar is the admin theme's own sidebar component.

Development

composer install                                   # only php-cs-fixer
vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --dry-run --diff       # code style, rules copied from Omeka core

Translations live in language/; see language/README.md for how to update them. The module ships with English and Dutch.

Licence

GPL-3.0-or-later.