Hey Bubblers,
Since wrapping up development on my Dark Mode plugin, I’m diving into my next challenge: building a dynamic translation engine plugin, tentatively called “Polyglot Engine”.
I’m mapping out the core architecture, and I’ve hit a classic performance vs. efficiency crossroads. I’d love to get your expert opinions on the best approach for handling the translations themselves:
1. **Real-time API Calls:** Translate text elements on the fly by making an API call (e.g., to Google Translate/DeepL) for each element as it becomes visible. Potentially simpler to set up, but I’m concerned about the number of API calls and potential UI lag.
2. **Pre-fetched JSON:** On page load, fetch a single JSON file containing all translations for the current language. This means one initial load, but could be heavier upfront and more complex to manage the JSON structure.
For those of you who have built multi-language apps or plugins, what has been your experience? Is there a third, more elegant method I’m missing? My goal is maximum performance and scalability.
Looking forward to discussing the trade-offs. Thanks! 
