Lingo
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Lingo
Play with people who don't speak your language.
Chat Translator reads incoming chat, translates it to English, and shows the translation right on the message. When you reply, it translates what you type into their language before it sends. Everything runs on your own computer by default — no account, no API key, no internet after the first download.
Reading chat
Foreign chat translates itself as it arrives:
<Alice> bonjour tout le monde → hello everyone
The original stays visible, so you always see what was actually said.
The first time you meet a language, hover the message once (or run /translate download fr) and its language pack downloads in the background. After that it's instant and works offline. Nothing large ever downloads on its own.
Prefer the quieter version? /translate read hover translates only the lines you point at.
Sending chat
/translate ru— or turn on auto to follow whoever you're talking to- Type your message in English
- Press Enter — it sends translated
By default your messages are sent in Latin letters (Privet rather than Привет), because a lot of public servers block non-Latin scripts. Switch with /translate native if your server allows it.
Choose how it translates
| Method | Good | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| On your computer (default) | Free, private, works offline | ~100 MB per language |
| DeepL (your own key) | Best quality | Needs a key and internet |
| Google Translate (your own key) | Widest language coverage | Needs a Google Cloud key |
| Langbly (your own key) | Free tier, 130+ languages, EU option | Needs a key and internet |
| Your own Ollama server | You control everything | You run the server |
Your API keys stay on your machine, in config/chat-translator.json.
Commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/translate guide |
Full in-game beginner guide |
/translate status |
Your current settings |
/translate ru |
Reply in Russian (any language code) |
/translate auto |
Follow the last language you read |
/translate read auto | hover |
How incoming chat is handled |
/translate download ru |
Save a language ahead of time |
/translate backend deepl |
Switch translation method |
/translate latin | native |
Which script you send |
/translate models |
List saved languages |
/translate clear all |
Free up disk space |
Protect a name from translation with braces: hello {{Steve}}
Good to know
- Client-side only. Nothing to install on the server. Works on servers that don't have it.
- Optional config screen. Install Mod Menu and YACL for a settings UI. Without them everything is still reachable through
/translate. - Requires Fabric Loader 0.19.3+, Fabric API, and Java 25.
- Large download. The translation engine ships inside the file, so there is nothing else to install and no cloud service involved.
- Translation is machine translation. It handles ordinary chat well and slang less well. Gaming terms and player names are left alone on purpose.
Source and bug reports: https://github.com/TanMan138/chat-translator
The Lingo Team
