scratchfoundation / scratchfoundation/scratch-blocks

We should remove the Google Translate block

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needs-discussion
Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

I just noticed the Google translate block, and it worries me. Depending on the language pair, translations can be completely wrong. So, people creating projects can end up with displaying something completely incomprehensible at best, and foul and offensive at worst.

Google Translate was created to help people understand texts in languages they don't speak, and depending on language pair, it has gotten really good at that task. However, it was never intended for production use - there is a reason you have a translation project on Transifex with a review requirement. Training children to use it for producing published texts is a really really really bad idea.

If you wish to understand more about why it's a problem, please read these 2 articles:

https://akerbeltzalba.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/do-minority-languages-need-machine-translation/

https://akerbeltzalba.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/when-things-are-way-way-way-worse-than-you-thought-they-might-get/

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the Google Translate block in the Scratch Blocks codebase and inspect how it is exposed to people creating projects. Remove the block and verify the remaining interface and project checks still work; the issue names no specific file or test.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
localization
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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