Detect Language Function

This function figures out if a message is written in English or Spanish. It’s like having someone who can instantly tell you what language they’re hearing!

The detect_language() Function

Here’s the code that asks LibreTranslate “what language is this?”:

def detect_language(text):
    """Ask LibreTranslate which language this text is (en/es)."""
    try:
        data = {"q": text}
        response = requests.post("http://127.0.0.1:5000/detect", json=data, timeout=5)
        result = response.json()
        if result and len(result) > 0:
            language = result[0]["language"]
            if language in ["en", "es"]:
                return language
        return None
    except requests.exceptions.Timeout:
        return None
    except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError:
        return None
    except Exception:
        return None

How It Works

1. Send the text: We send the message to LibreTranslate.
2. Get an answer: LibreTranslate tells us what language it thinks it is.
3. Check if we can use it: We only work with English (en) or Spanish (es).
4. Handle problems: If something goes wrong, we return None (which means “I don’t know”).

What the Bot Does With This

When someone sends a message, the bot:

• Uses this function to figure out the language.
• Skips messages that aren’t English or Spanish.
• Decides who needs a translation.

Example

When someone types “Hello world”, LibreTranslate sends back something like:

[
  {
    "language": "en",
    "confidence": 0.95
  }
]

The function grabs "en" from this and returns it.

Nuvi tip: Start LibreTranslate with `--load-only en,es` so it loads just English and Spanish for faster startup.

Common Problems