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Przemek
Asked: 2019-03-08 01:02:23 +0800 CST

How to translate large pdf from comand line?

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I have a large pdf file (83 MB) and I want to translate it. I tried to split the file with pdftk and translate each part with https://www.onlinedoctranslator.com/en/ (The file can't be larger than 10 MB) but it is very labor-intensive. The preferred translator would be Google engine. If there is no easy way to automatize this task It would be helpful if you give me a tip how to split pdf to parts of even size (in MBs).

command-line pdf translation

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Have a look at translate-shell

    This installs a command called trans where you can tell it to translate. Examples from the project page.

    Translate Shell (formerly Google Translate CLI) is a command-line translator powered by Google Translate (default), Bing Translator, Yandex.Translate, and Apertium. It gives you easy access to one of these translation engines in your terminal:

    $ trans 'Saluton, Mondo!'
Saluton, Mondo!

Hello, World!

Translations of Saluton, Mondo!
[ Esperanto -> English ]
Saluton ,
    Hello,
Mondo !
    World!

    By default, translations with detailed explanations are shown. You can also translate the text briefly: (only the most relevant translation will be shown)

    $ trans -brief 'Saluton, Mondo!'
Hello, World!

    You can also tell it to use a language:

    trans :fr word

    And there is even more:

    trans -browser firefox :fr http://www.w3.org/

    will open firefox with a French translation of www.w3.org.

    There is no method for directly translating a PDF. Method for a file:

    trans :fr file://input.txt

    Now in relation to a PDF:

    sudo apt install poppler-utils

    with that tool you can make a text file from the pdf.

    pdftotext your.pdf your.txt
    • add -layout to preserve layout
    • add -opw {password} if there is a password

    and you can feed the file 

    trans file://your.txt

    Next step: back to PDF

    sudo apt-get install enscript ghostscript

    and convert to postscript and then to pdf:

    enscript -p output.ps your.txt
ps2pdf output.ps your2.pdf

    I got this working on a PDF with some words in it. No guarantee it works on a large file so please comment below if this worked.

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