Allow marking post language #3495

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opened 2026-05-12 21:54:29 +00:00 by tirifto · 6 comments
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Proposal

When making a post, it should be possible to select the language it is written in.

This would make Pleroma more interoperable with the rest of the Fediverse, since e.g. Mastodon has already supported language marking and filtering for years now. Not to mention that posts are being made in various languages, so being able to work with the fact can be incredibly useful and regarded as a very basic (if belated) feature.

My understanding is that the backend now supports this with PR 7317, but frontend still does not expose the functionality in any way.

### Proposal When making a post, it should be possible to select the language it is written in. This would make Pleroma more interoperable with the rest of the Fediverse, since e.g. Mastodon has already supported language marking and filtering for years now. Not to mention that posts are being made in various languages, so being able to work with the fact can be incredibly useful and regarded as a very basic (if belated) feature. My understanding is that the backend now supports this with [PR 7317](https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/pleroma/pulls/7317), but frontend still does not expose the functionality in any way.
Owner

is there a practical use for marking post language besides metadata and filtering?

is there a practical use for marking post language besides metadata and filtering?
Author
Member

I imagine it can help accessibility and proper font rendering. It would also be nice to have search and user post statistics by language. But I consider those last two just ‘nice to have’, while filtering alone would be a massive improvement to usability.

(Consider that many people post in several languages. Right now, the choice is between not following some people at all, or flooding my timeline with posts I don’t understand. I’d very much like the option to see only posts I can read.)

I imagine it can help accessibility and proper font rendering. It would also be nice to have search and user post statistics by language. But I consider those last two just ‘nice to have’, while filtering alone would be a *massive* improvement to usability. (Consider that many people post in several languages. Right now, the choice is between not following some people at all, or flooding my timeline with posts I don’t understand. I’d very much like the option to see only posts I can read.)
Owner

I don't really want to clutter the post form even more, so I think adding global post language setting would be an ok solution.

I don't really want to clutter the post form even more, so I think adding global post language setting would be an ok solution.
Author
Member

I don’t think that’s a good solution, since again, many people (myself included) post in different languages, and heading into the settings every time you want to post sounds really tedious.

Without delving into any major redesigns, I think an okay place for a language picker could be:

  1. Over on the other side from the preview button (which is stretched to fill the ample horizontal space)
  2. Over on the other side from the remaining character counter (always on line of its own, so not interfering with post body text)
  3. Next to the text format picker

Screenshot of the Pleroma post form with the mentioned positions marked with red numbers.

If you think it’s too much, perhaps there could be an option to hide it, or do so automatically for users who have only set one preferred posting language? (In which case, something similar could be done with the text format picker. I doubt there are more people routinely switching between HTML and BBCode than there are speaking two different languages.)

I don’t think that’s a good solution, since again, many people (myself included) post in different languages, and heading into the settings every time you want to post sounds really tedious. Without delving into any major redesigns, I think an okay place for a language picker could be: 1. Over on the other side from the preview button (which is stretched to fill the ample horizontal space) 2. Over on the other side from the remaining character counter (always on line of its own, so not interfering with post body text) 3. Next to the text format picker ![Screenshot of the Pleroma post form with the mentioned positions marked with red numbers.](https://tirifto.xwx.moe/d/pleroma/positions.png) If you think it’s too much, perhaps there could be an option to hide it, or do so automatically for users who have only set one preferred posting language? (In which case, something similar could be done with the text format picker. I doubt there are more people routinely switching between HTML and BBCode than there are speaking two different languages.)
Owner

+1 @tirifto

Having a global default is a good feature I think (separate from the FE lang ideally), but it should be overridable somewhere in the composer. It's not only useful for language filtering, but also for the BE to properly detect languages for translation when requested and for other servers to do the same. Multi-language posts are also supported by the BE, so even that is possible.

I think (2) could be doable with a popup selection, or (3) with a dropdown which is what Akkoma has. To reduce dropdown/popup size, a setting to add more listed language could work. If a user primarly posts in English and sometimes in lets say Finnish, they can add only those two languages and only those would be listed.

+1 @tirifto Having a global default is a good feature I think (separate from the FE lang ideally), but it should be overridable somewhere in the composer. It's not only useful for language filtering, but also for the BE to properly detect languages for translation when requested and for other servers to do the same. Multi-language posts are also supported by the BE, so even that is possible. I think (2) could be doable with a popup selection, or (3) with a dropdown which is what Akkoma has. To reduce dropdown/popup size, a setting to add more listed language could work. If a user primarly posts in English and sometimes in lets say Finnish, they can add only those two languages and only those would be listed.
Owner

Yeah I think 2 is a good place for it.

Yeah I think 2 is a good place for it.
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pleroma/pleroma-fe#3495
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