Version after version, Mozilla Firefox continues to improve its experience. The internet browser has just acquired a new extension. Called Firefox Translations, it is an automatic translator. However, unlike cloud-based solutions like Google Translate, Firefox Translations works offline!
Despite tough competition embodied by Chrome and Edge, Mozilla Firefox is trying somehow to keep its head above water. And although it has lost 46 million users in 3 years, the internet browser continues to acquire new features.
At the beginning of May 2022, Mozilla Firefox upgraded to version 100 and took the opportunity to add new features such as support for subtitles in Picture-in-Picture for example, or even a HDR compatibility on Mac.
And recently, Firefox hosted a brand new extension, downloadable at this address. Baptized Firefox Translation, it is as its name suggests of an automatic translator. However, unlike most translation solutions like Google Translate, Firefox Translation is not cloud-based.
Firefox Translation, a free offline translator
Indeed, the machine learning process takes place directly on your own computer, even if you are offline. Fact, the translation work is not performed in a data center located hundreds or thousands of miles from your home, but by your computer.
This point is important. By doing without the cloud, Mozilla Firefox wants to reduce ultimate dependency on cloud service providers who may collect data on your translation requests. If I translate the menu of a Mexican restaurant with Google Translate, will I receive advertisements or promotions for Mexican specialties? You get the idea.
Get rid of cloud leaders for more security
Being able to perform the translations offline eliminates the worry of this kind of drift, since your data is not sent to a third party to be analyzed and then sent back. It should be noted that this extension is the fruit of the Bergamot project.
Funded by the European Union and led by a consortium made up of the University of Edinburgh, Charles University in Prague, the University of Sheffield, Tartu and Mozilla, this project aimed improve machine translation on the client side.
“Executing directly on users’ machines allows citizens to preserve their privacy and increases the adoption of language technologies in Europe in various sectors that require privacy”. can we read on the official page of the project.
If the translations offered by Firefox Translation are rather good, you will have to deal with a very limited number of supported languages : 12 only, against a hundred at Google Translate. There are English, Spanish, Estonian, Norwegian, Italian, Portuguese, Bulgarian or Czech. Other languages will be added gradually.