I have a question for all those ones who are (or have in the past) trying to create a multi-language bubble app.
I’m thinking about what’s the best approach to create a multi-language store (english + 5 other languages).
The app is quite big, with about 10 pages and some of them have a lot of elements.
I’ve seen there are basically 3 approaches for translations:
use of App Text(your_text) and translate the whole csv through google translate or chatGPT;
use of conditions on each element: based on the ‘lang’ parameter in url the text value changes;
use of external tools like google translate or weglot.
Now, based on the fact that
sometimes the same word (or phrase) can be translated in different ways based on context;
using strategy #2 (above) would take very long time (but it’s the only way to be super meticolous);
in my opinion the strategy #3 (above) often provides just literal translation which often don’t make too much sense for native speakers of that language (which might lead in decreasing performances)
What’s the advice you would give me in this situation?
I created an app that supports around 15 languages. Mine was a bit unique because it allowed users to create their own translations since the software was designed for use within their own groups. The default language was English, but users could translate it into other languages if they wanted. For that app, it was essential to save the translations in the database so they could be accessed by the users.
If I were creating an app with multiple languages where users didn’t need to modify the translations themselves, I would suggest using the built-in ‘app text’ feature that Bubble provides. I think this would be the most efficient approach, but someone can correct me if they disagree—there are many ways to do things in Bubble.
ChatGPT does a pretty good job with translations if it has the right context.
I partly agree with you on the use of App Text().
But there’s a lack of flexibility for those cases where the text contains part going to the next line, or contains lists or bullet points, or some part of the text is bold (or colored, etc.).
Sometimes I think the right solution is a combination of App Text() and use of conditions: for those words that are used many many times (like “cancel” or “confirm” or “sign up”, etc) then use App Text(), and for everything is a medium-long sentence use conditions.
