[Inbox] Add Language Translation Function

[cthorpe1]

This idea has been developed and is On Canvas Beta •  How do I access the Canvas beta environment?

For more information, please read through the Canvas Release Notes (2025-01-18) 

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Our district has a diverse population of language speakers and many parents don't speak English but are observers and want to communicate with their child's instructors. Without translation this forces the communication channel to be switched to another platform like Class Dojo and the like. We would like to do as much as possible on the Canvas platform including the all important communication between school and home. 

Could you please look into expanding the Canvas Translate feature to the Inbox messages. 

Respectfully,

Chris Thorpe

[Stef_retired]

@cthorpe1 

Can you elaborate on the "Canvas Translate" feature? Canvas doesn't currently have a feature that automatically translates the text a user enters into a different language. Canvas does have the ability to set a language preference for the interface, but that is limited to fixed areas in the UI, such as the course navigation:  How do I change the language preference in my user...

Thanks!

[gshea]

YES!!!!

We need this!

[julieprater]

Yes - Agreed!  We need this - Julie

[cthorpe1]

@Stef_retired 

To be clear, I know there is no live translation for communications currently and that only the UI is translated. So using the word 'expand' is perhaps incorrect. The fact that they can translate the UI means there is some kind of translation engine or ability. Our district would hope that translation services could be brought to the Inbox, Communication function in Canvas as a future feature. 

Other platforms like Blackboard, Bloomz, Remind, Class Dojo offer translation services for communications and many of our users need to use these 3rd party platforms to effectively communicate between staff and our non-English speaking parents. It would be great to have this service within Canvas itself and not have to rely on external tools to carry out this communication. 

Chris

[Stef_retired]

@cthorpe1 

Thanks for the clarification. The Customer Success Manager (CSM) for your district will contact you directly to discuss possible near-term solutions.

[LoriRutkowski]

Yes!  We need this in our district! 

[Stef_retired]

@LoriRutkowski  Please discuss potential near-term solutions for this with the CSM for your district. 

[COLLEENDUDLEY]

We have a large population that speak, Chin, a dialect of Burmese (they do not speak Burmese).  We also have speakers of Swahili, and Chuukese.  Is it possible to add these languages?

[Stef_retired]

@COLLEENDUDLEY  Please talk to your Customer Success Manager (CSM) about language support.