NVDA Ollama Translator
This add-on provides fast and privacy-focused translation for the NVDA screen reader using locally running
Ollama AI models.
Features
- Local Translation: Works without an internet connection (once models are downloaded).
- Dynamic Model Selection: Automatically detects Ollama models installed on your system.
- Multi-language Support: Can translate between 20+ languages.
- Smart Selection: Automatically detects selected text or the focused object.
- Virtual Viewer: Speaks the translation and shows it in a reviewable window.
- Marker Translation: Translate text between a start and end marker.
Installation & Requirements
- Install Ollama: Download and install Ollama from ollama.com.
- Download a Model: Open Terminal or Command Prompt and pull a model (e.g.,
ollama pull llama3 or ollama pull gemma2).
- Install the Add-on: Open the
ollamaTranslator.nvda-addon file and follow
NVDA's installation instructions.
Usage
1. Quick Translation
While navigating text, follow these steps:
- Select text or simply focus on it.
- Press NVDA + Shift + T.
- The translation will be spoken by NVDA and a Virtual Viewer window will open.
2. Marker Translation (For Large Text)
If selecting text is difficult or you want to select a specific chunk:
- Go to the start of the text you want to translate and press NVDA
+ Shift + K. (You will hear "Start marker set").
- Go to the end of the text and press NVDA + Shift + L.
- The text between the two points will be automatically translated.
3. Menu Translation
You can open the manual translation window by going to Tools > Ollama Translator... in the
NVDA menu. Here you can paste text and click "Translate".
Settings
Go to Preferences > Settings... in the NVDA menu and select the Ollama
Translator category from the list on the left.
- Ollama URL: Default is
http://localhost:11434/api/generate. You usually
don't need to change this.
- Model: Select the model you want to use from the list of installed models.
- Source Language: You can leave it as "Auto" or select a specific language.
- Target Language: Select the language to translate to (e.g., English).
- Shortcuts: You can customize the Translate, Start Marker, and End Marker shortcuts
here.
Note: Shortcut changes take effect immediately after clicking "OK"; no need to restart
NVDA.
Troubleshooting
- "Translation failed" error: Make sure Ollama is running in the background. You can
check by going to
http://localhost:11434 in your browser.
- Model list is empty: You might not have any models installed in Ollama. Check with the
ollama list command.
Developer Info
This add-on is developed by Sarper Arıkan.