xTranslate

this is just a very simple hackeable python script that translates selected text (or from clipboard) and show the result as a notification. It works using xsel, translate-shell and libnotify.

tested on arch linux x64 with gnome-shell 3.26.1

dependencies

• translate-shell
• libnotify
• xsel

usage

place the script and gt_icon wherever you want and add execute permission. set up a trigger: I use a keyboard short cut to trigger the script

• -h: display help
• -tr, --translate: format lang_src:lang_dest. default en:es. see translate-shell for more info
• -t --timeout: notification timeout in milliseconds. default 5000
• -p --params: translate-shell coma separated additional params. default b (brief translation)

examples:

• xtranslate -p "b,sp" // brief translate and **speak** the input text
• xtranslate -tr ":es" // auto detect source language and translate to spanish"

again, see translate-shell docs to get more info to play with.

features

• language support: see translate-shell
• translate any selected text or text from the clipboard. please take in account the limitations of translate-shell.
• open in browser: opens translate.google.com. The url arguments are source and destination language and the text to translate. If source is empty (:es) it sends auto param for autodetection mode. see google translate query docs for customizations

screenshots

testing/debug?

just do python xtranslate.py or open the file in some IDE like pycharm, vs code with python debugger.

TODO

• support for other translators availables in translate-shell
• make arch linux package
• handle errors and limitations