Advanced Translator - User Guide

An NVDA-based accessibility add-on built so that you can translate quickly and effectively without ever interrupting your screen reader experience.

1. General Information

• Developer: Fettah Pınar
• Current Version: 1.0.0
• Minimum NVDA Requirement: 2023.1
• License: GNU General Public License v2 (GPL v2)

2. Purpose and Core Features

Advanced Translator is designed to instantly turn any text you come across on your computer - or anything NVDA reads out - into your target language. It lets NVDA users reach foreign content in web pages or documents as quickly as possible.

The core capabilities offered by the add-on are:

• Translate the Focused Text: Instantly translates and speaks whatever text NVDA's focus is currently sitting on.
• Translate the Clipboard: Sends text you have copied to the clipboard straight to the target language.
• Translate the Last Spoken Phrase: Captures the most recent sentence or word NVDA spoke and translates it on the fly.
• Comparative Translation Mode: Pressing the assigned shortcut twice in a row opens a dedicated dialog. Its Comparative translate feature sends your text to every supported engine at the same time and lists the results side by side, so you can pick the most accurate translation.
• Manual Translator Window: A standalone window you can open with its own shortcut. Type any text, choose the source/target languages and the engine yourself, and translate freely.
• Simultaneous (Real-Time) Translation: When this mode is active, the text on screen is automatically translated to your target language and spoken every time NVDA's focus changes. Thanks to the translation cache, sentences that have already been translated are not sent to the server over the internet again and again - they are read straight from memory. This avoids unnecessary requests and makes translations sound more fluent.

3. Supported Translation Engines

The add-on supports the following popular services with direct integration, requiring no API key, account, or fee:

• Google Translate
• Microsoft Translate
• DeepL Translate
• Yandex Translate

4. Installing the Add-on

To add the plug-in to your NVDA add-ons, follow the steps below in order:

1. Download the add-on file with the .nvda-addon extension to your computer.
2. Start the installation process by double-clicking the downloaded file, or by importing it through NVDA's Add-on Store.
3. After confirming the installation, accept the prompt that asks you to restart NVDA so the add-on can become active.

5. Configuration and Settings

To customize the add-on's preferences to your liking, use NVDA Menu → Preferences → Settings → Advanced Translator. The settings you can manage from this panel are:

• Default Translation Engine: Choose the service that will be used first for all translation operations.
• Source Language: The language the text is written in (the Auto-detect option is recommended for reliable results).
• Target Language: The language the translation will be converted to.
• Use Translation Cache: Prevents the same texts from being sent to the server again and reads previously made translations directly from memory.
• Simultaneous Translation on Start-up: Automatically activates simultaneous translation mode every time NVDA starts.
• Speak the Original Text: In simultaneous mode, also reads the original text before the translation.
• Copy to Clipboard: Automatically copies every translation result to the system clipboard.
• Browseable Window Display: Shows long translation results in an accessible dialog window.

6. Keyboard Shortcuts (Input Gestures)

To avoid conflicts, the add-on does not ship with any predefined shortcuts. You need to assign your own shortcuts to suit your usage habits.

To define a shortcut, open NVDA Menu → Preferences → Input Gestures, and assign any key combination of your choice to the following actions under the Advanced Translator category:

• Translate the focused text
• Translate the clipboard
• Translate NVDA's last spoken text
• Open the manual translator window
• Toggle simultaneous translation on / off
• Swap source and target languages
• Open the settings dialog
• Clear the translation cache

7. Contact and Support

To report any problems you encounter with the add-on, send a bug report, or suggest new features, you can contact me directly by e-mail:

• E-mail: fettaherkamm@gmail.com

8. License

This add-on is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2 (GPL v2) in support of the open-source software ecosystem. The source code may be freely inspected, distributed, and improved within the bounds of this license.