Reccomedation of Offline Language Translation Software Compatible with Windows XP

[Ascii2]

I seek software to translate verbal and written language that is compatible with Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 and that can perform its functions without the need to transmit the language or telemetry information across the Internet or otherwise communicate with other parties (including the party that makes the software).  The software should be capable of working without a connection to a network (offline use).

Please recommend such software.

[ED_Sln]

What language do you need to translate from? Because offline translators have a limited selection of languages, so you should start your search depending on the languages.

 

[AstroSkipper]

15 hours ago, Ascii2 said:

I seek software to translate verbal and written language that is compatible with Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 and that can perform its functions without the need to transmit the language or telemetry information across the Internet or otherwise communicate with other parties (including the party that makes the software).  The software should be capable of working without a connection to a network (offline use).

Please recommend such software.

Most those offline translator tools for Windows XP are much too old and/or have to be paid such as Power Translator 11 Professional or Just Translate 2016. The quality of their translations are not really comparable with the best of all such as DeepL. Therefore, I think you won't have much luck finding something really useful. Tools like QTranslate, for example, need an internet connection and even their quality is worse than DeepL which is unfortunately not available for Windows XP as an offline tool. Maybe, you can get LibreTranslate to work under Windows XP: https://github.com/LibreTranslate/LibreTranslate

Edited January 18, 2024 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[Ascii2]

15 hours ago, ED_Sln said:

What language do you need to translate from? Because offline translators have a limited selection of languages, so you should start your search depending on the languages.

 

Ideally, I would like to be able to translate between any languages.  However, if I were to prioritize, in descending order of priority, I I best believe that they would be between:  English to or from Russian, German, Japanese, Spanish, Ukrainian, Arabic, and Chinese.

[Ascii2]

7 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

Most those offline translator tools for Windows XP are much too old and/or have to be paid such as Power Translator 11 Professional or Just Translate 2016. The quality of their translations are not really comparable with the best of all such as DeepL. Therefore, I think you won't have much luck finding something really useful. Tools like QTranslate, for example, need an internet connection and even their quality is worse than DeepL which is unfortunately not available for Windows XP as an offline tool. Maybe, you can get LibreTranslate to work under Windows XP: https://github.com/LibreTranslate/LibreTranslate

It would be unfortunate If it is true that translation software that may be used offline and compatible with Windows XP do not provide quality translation that is really useful.  Common languages have been around for a very long time.  I would have thought and hoped that that decent translation software would have been available long ago.

[AstroSkipper]

2 hours ago, Ascii2 said:

I would have thought and hoped that that decent translation software would have been available long ago.

Those tools are also available, but only from Windows 7 upwards, e.g. DeepL Desktop. Developing good translation tools doesn't seem to be as easy as you might think. Google Translator has been in development for many, many years, but the translations are often still poor in terms of grammar and content. In my opinion, DeepL does the best translations.

Edited January 18, 2024 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[AstroSkipper]

BTW, those old programmes like Power Translator 11 Professional which I still have in my personal software archive came with an installation package size of more than 500 MB. I also don't know whether it is still running today after almost 13 years. Generally, I really don't like such bloated packages. I always use the DeepL online service.

Edited January 18, 2024 by AstroSkipper

[ED_Sln]

7 hours ago, Ascii2 said:

I I best believe that they would be between:  English to or from Russian, German, Japanese, Spanish, Ukrainian, Arabic, and Chinese.

Big list, and very diverse. Of the offline programs, probably only Power Translator in the World edition supports so many languages.

7 hours ago, Ascii2 said:

Common languages have been around for a very long time.  I would have thought and hoped that that decent translation software would have been available long ago.

The problem of all old translators is that the translation is word-for-word, i.e. each word is translated separately from the context of the whole sentence, so the translation is too "machine-like", it is difficult to read and even difficult to understand what is meant.

If you choose something modern that works on Win 7, they make an offline translator for Firefox, but it only works on websites. DeepL is also for Win 7 and even the installed program requires internet to work.

[AstroSkipper]

@Ascii2 The title of this topic should be corrected. Especially, when we are talking about the quality of translations. I think you surely meant "Recommendation ...". 

Edited January 19, 2024 by AstroSkipper

[AstroSkipper]

8 hours ago, ED_Sln said:

DeepL is also for Win 7 and even the installed program requires internet to work.

Never installed the  DeepL Desktop application under Windows 7. But if it really needs an internet connection for translating, then there is no need to install it. 

[Ascii2]

13 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

@Ascii2 The title of this topic should be corrected. Especially, when we are talking about the quality of translations. I think you surely meant "Recommendation ...". 

Discussion of the quality of something is still a discussion of the something itself.  To that regard, I believe the title to be fine.  Also, mitigation of such issues would also be fine.

I might consider branching out the viable platforms to Linux, Android, or other that may be recommended so long as things may be done offline and use of such platforms may be reasonable done.  If quality of translation cannot be satisfied using Windows XP, another strategy might have to be developed.

[Ascii2]

20 hours ago, ED_Sln said:

Big list, and very diverse. Of the offline programs, probably only Power Translator in the World edition supports so many languages.

The problem of all old translators is that the translation is word-for-word, i.e. each word is translated separately from the context of the whole sentence, so the translation is too "machine-like", it is difficult to read and even difficult to understand what is meant.

If you choose something modern that works on Win 7, they make an offline translator for Firefox, but it only works on websites. DeepL is also for Win 7 and even the installed program requires internet to work.

I shall try to find some of the recommended options, with special attention to Power Translator.  It appears that the World Premium edition is the most inclusive version.  The company that made Power Translator, LEC, appears to no longer be around in the same form.  It appears that many later versions than Power Translator 11 supported Windows XP.  It is not clear what is the last version produced or which is the best version to select.

[ED_Sln]

2 hours ago, Ascii2 said:

It appears that many later versions than Power Translator 11 supported Windows XP.  It is not clear what is the last version produced or which is the best version to select.

The system requirements for version 17 include Win XP. So it looks like all versions are supported. Too bad there's no trial version. And they also have this image on their site comparing translators, maybe you can find older versions of them that work on XP.

[Ascii2]

As an update, I am still working on this (amongst many other things), but things are progressing slowly.

Thanks for the information thus far.