If
* you’re teaching languages using an LMS
* you have access to the server
you can block the automatic translation offered by Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (and likely Firefox, but I haven’t checked that yet) by putting the following code into the body of each page (Moodle being set up to do this automatically):
**Addendum:**
I found a much easier way to do this that apparently works for all browsers except Firefox (though, again, I’ve only checked with Chrome and Edge but with three different servers). Put this between the opening and closing of the /body:
`<html translate=”no”>`
`<div class = “notranslate”>`
`[content goes here]`
`</div>`
~~<!DOCTYPE html>~~
~~<html lang=”en” class=”notranslate” translate=”no”>~~
~~<head> <meta name=”google” content=”notranslate” />~~
~~</head>~~
~~<body>~~
~~…~~
~~</body>~~
~~</html>~~
Source is [StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12238396/how-to-disable-google-translate-from-html-in-chrome).
I’ve spent a lot of time writing my content pages for language learners and have most instructions written in Japanese and most content in English. Especially with the advent of Windows 11, students with good intentions or bad have been using translation services to more or less defeat the purpose of having non-Japanese content on the pages.
**N.B.:** I have not tried this on my production server yet.
6 comments
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
Maybe you should reevaluate how content is consumed naturally instead of fighting it? Language changes and how people learn one will too. Regardless if you try to force them not to consume it a certain way.
Before you blocked auto translate, what did you tell the students about your rationale? How did they respond?
Is it still possible for the students to cut and paste the text into another browser tab and deepl or Google translate it?
I’ve seen students use the Google translator camera to take pictures of slides and get it all translated to Japanese.
Fight it all you want, your students will find a way.
So first of all, thank you for sharing this. I don’t know that I can or want to use it, but we can’t use tools that people don’t make and publicize, and we can’t know we’re using the best practices we can until we know what the alternatives are. So thank you.
I don’t think I can use this tool because I don’t have access to the LMS server. In addition, I am far less worried about students getting translation support for receptive tasks than for production. The classes I have that would most likely abuse translation tools for reading get almost all their materials printed on paper.
But again, I really liked that you shared this and I hope you continue to share things like this in the future.
The best is electronically submitted essays. Look, I know you used Google Translate or Deepl or whatnot because you couldn’t be bothered to properly add the subject and now it says that **you** took the first steps on the moon.
While this of course blocks auto-translate on the site itself, it doesn’t prevent students from copy-pasteing. Given that students seem more prone these days to use DeepL (and they mostly all know how to copy-paste), I am not sure this is worth the effort.
Also, from an educational standpoint, I think it would be better to teach students why they shouldn’t (and also when they should) use translation software, rather than trying to simply prevent them.