Hi LinkinStar, glad that you agreed on the option 2 direction! I will do some POC and continue the discussion in related issues/discussions.
On Thu, Sep 10, 2026 at 5:27 PM LinkinStar <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Han, > > Thank you for summarizing the options and the possible directions. > > First, Option 2—extending Answer through a local coding agent, CLI, and > Skills—is a very good direction to explore. It could support multilingual > use cases as well as broader integrations between Answer and AI agents. We > would be very happy to see your contribution. We can continue the > discussion and refine the scope and technical design in the related issue. > > For current requests, I suggest that we first take an approach that is > simple to implement and can be validated quickly. The existing AI Assistant > can already help users ask in their preferred language and receive answers > in that language, so there is already a usable entry point for > cross-language retrieval and Q&A. > > For users creating questions and answers, we could add an AI translation > button. After writing their content, a user could click the button to > translate it into the site’s designated content language. For example, on a > site where English is the primary content language, a question or answer > written in German could be translated into English before submission. > > This approach has several benefits: > > - It is straightforward for users, who can draft content in their preferred > language. > - Questions and answers remain stored in one common language, which helps > search, moderation, duplicate detection, and long-term knowledge sharing. > - Answer already has an AI provider, model, and prompt configuration, so > this should be relatively simple to implement and validate based on the > existing AI capabilities. > - Users should always be able to review, edit, or discard the translated > text before submitting it. > > As a later improvement, we could add a “Translate” action on questions, > answers, and comments. It would translate the currently displayed content > into the user’s interface language for reading. The original content would > remain the authoritative version, while the translation would be a reading > aid. > > This could be a practical first step: address language normalization when > content is created while using the existing AI Assistant for multilingual > retrieval. We can then improve on-demand translation, caching, provider > selection, and other details based on real usage and further discussion. > > Best regards, > LinkinStar > > On Wed, Sep 9, 2026 at 11:11 PM Han Gao <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hey Christofer, > > > > Thanks for the clarification! I did some tests and here's something in my > > mind. Welcome any feedback! > > > > There're several ways to achieve the goal 'ask in A language and return > in > > A, while most questions/answers are B or others'. > > Option 1 - use current AI capabilities in Answer. > > You can enable AI and chat in 'AI Assistant', then ask in your prefered > > language. Generally, it'll translate and return in your language. e.g. I > > asked in Chinese and returned in Chinese, and the question/answers were > all > > in English. *Screenshot is attached.* > > > > Option 2 - use local coding agent via CLI + SKILL (WIP) > > > > I saw there's a starter issue for this. > > https://github.com/apache/answer/issues/1555. I do think it can also > work > > as the existing AI capabilities or even better. > > > > BTW, I guess this is a starter feature for this goal(CLI+SKILL). I'm very > > happy to contribute to make it come true. CC @fenbox @LinkinStar > > > > Option 3 - support translation for search/search result, and also support > > translating to target language for questions/answers/comments > > > > Option 4 - only support translation for search/search result, and > leverage > > browser translation feature to translate. > > > > Which option do you prefer? > > Also + @fenbox @linkinstar to share if any comments. > > Hope we can figure out a better user experience in the discussion! > > > > Han > > > > On Wed, Sep 9, 2026 at 1:13 AM Christofer Dutz < > [email protected]> > > wrote: > > > >> Yeah, > >> > >> So I know I’m good with English, but I know there are many people (even > >> at the ASF) which work and think in other languages. > >> I just thought, if we allowed anyone to query our knowledge-bases and > get > >> responses in whatever language they like, this could be a great feature. > >> > >> > >> Chris > >> > >> > >> Von: Han Gao <[email protected]> > >> Datum: Dienstag, 8. September 2026 um 15:47 > >> An: [email protected] <[email protected]> > >> Betreff: Re: Using AI for translation? > >> > >> Hi Christofer, > >> > >> When you say "user asks a question in German", do you mean user ask in > the > >> search bar? Or something else? > >> > >> Per your statement, here's my understanding. *Let's assume the majority > >> language is English, and this user uses German. * > >> 1. user search a question in German in search bar > >> 2. service translate to English and search > >> 3. return in the original language and render in German in search result > >> 4. when in specific question page, it can show in either German or > >> origin(English) > >> > >> Is that what you mean? > >> > >> Han > >> > >> On Mon, Sep 7, 2026 at 4:59 PM Christofer Dutz < > [email protected] > >> > > >> wrote: > >> > >> > Hi all, > >> > > >> > Ok … just wanted to make sure if it’s already in there and I just need > >> to > >> > configure it. > >> > If it’s not … yeah … I think this could be a huge benefit for users. > >> > > >> > Especially with the whole Apache RAI initiative, I could imagine that > >> the > >> > ASF could possibly provide the infra/credits for running such a > >> translation > >> > service on the Apache hosted Apache Answer instance. > >> > > >> > Chris > >> > > >> > > >> > Von: Feng Dong <[email protected]> > >> > Datum: Montag, 7. September 2026 um 05:07 > >> > An: [email protected] <[email protected]> > >> > Betreff: Re: Using AI for translation? > >> > > >> > That's a good idea, I agree. > >> > > >> > LinkinStar <[email protected]> 于2026年9月7日周一 10:45写道： > >> > > >> > > Hi all, > >> > > > >> > > I think that's a good suggestion. Currently, in version 2.0 Apache > >> > Answer, > >> > > the AI serves only as a tool to assist with Q&A, helping users find > >> > answers > >> > > more quickly and avoid duplicate questions. The addition of > AI-powered > >> > > automatic translation might help users who speak other languages > >> quickly > >> > > ask questions in English. > >> > > > >> > > Best regards, > >> > > LinkinStar > >> > > > >> > > On Sun, Sep 6, 2026 at 12:38 AM Christofer Dutz < > >> > [email protected] > >> > > > > >> > > wrote: > >> > > > >> > > > Hi all, > >> > > > > >> > > > I was brainstorming a bit about how we could possibly use Answer > on > >> a > >> > > > foundation level. > >> > > > > >> > > > I’m still looking for ways we can all communicate in our own > >> languages, > >> > > so > >> > > > I had a look if answer allowed using something like an AI > >> translation > >> > > > system. > >> > > > If seems general support for AI accessing Answer seems to be > >> available > >> > > > since 2.0, but could Answer support using AI? > >> > > > > >> > > > I was thinking … possibly a knowledgeable is in English, but a > user > >> > asks > >> > > a > >> > > > question in German … it would be great if the translation service > >> could > >> > > > translate the query to English, this could then be executed and > then > >> > the > >> > > > result would be translated back to the original question language. > >> > > > > >> > > > Has this been discussed? Is this possible? > >> > > > > >> > > > Chris > >> > > > > >> > > > > >> > > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > -- Thanks, Luke
