fanyi: Translate Words or Sentences via Online Translators

Useful functions to translate text for multiple languages using online translators. For example, by translating error messages and descriptive analysis results into a language familiar to the user, it enables a better understanding of the information, thereby reducing the barriers caused by language. It offers several helper functions to query gene information to help interpretation of interested genes (e.g., marker genes, differential expression genes), and provides utilities to translate ‘ggplot’ graphics. This package is not affiliated with any of the online translators. The developers do not take responsibility for the invoice it incurs when using this package, especially for exceeding the free quota.

To cite fanyi in publications use:

• D Wang, G Chen, L Li, S Wen, Z Xie, X Luo, L Zhan, S Xu, J Li, R Wang, Q Wang^*, G Yu^*. Reducing language barriers, promoting information absorption, and communication using fanyi. Chinese Medical Journal. 2024, 137(16):1950-1956.

✍️ Authors

Guangchuang YU

School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University

https://yulab-smu.top

⏬ Installation

Get the released version from CRAN:

install.packages("fanyi")

Or the development version from github:

## install.packages("yulab.utils")
yulab.utils::install_zip_gh("YuLab-SMU/fanyi")

🔰 Usages

to switch from different online translators:

You should use set_translate_source() to set the default translator using in translate().

Alternatively, you can call specific functions to use a specific translator, (e.g., baidu_translate(), bing_translate(), youdao_translate(), etc.).

to use baidu translate:

1. go to https://fanyi-api.baidu.com/manage/developer and regist as an individual developer
2. get appid and key (密钥)
3. set appid and key with source = "baidu" using set_translate_option()
4. have fun with baidu_translate()

to use bing translate:

1. regist a free azure account
2. enable Azure AI services | Translator from https://portal.azure.com/
3. create a translation service with free tier pricing version (you need a visa/master card to complete registion and will not be charged until exceed 2 million characters monthly)
4. get your key and region
5. set key and region with source = "bing" using set_translate_option()
6. have fun with bing_translate()

to use youdao(有道智云) translate:

1. go to https://ai.youdao.com/ and register an account
2. click 自然语言翻译服务 and create an app from subsection 文本翻译
3. get your 应用ID as appid, and 应用秘钥 as key
4. set appid and key with source = "youdao" using set_translate_option()
5. have fun with youdao_translate()
6. (bonus) you can also create 术语表 (dictionary for the terms) as a user-defined dictionary and get the dict id to help you get precise translation in certain domain.

to use volcengine (火山引擎) translate:

1. go to https://www.volcengine.com/ and register an account
2. enable Machine Translation (机器翻译)
3. get app key
   • click 控制台
   • click your avatar at the upper-right corner
   • select API访问密钥
   • click 新建密钥
4. for security concerns, you are highly advised to add a sub-account (新建子用户)
5. click the subaccount name in 身份管理 - 用户, and click permissions (权限)
6. in Global permissions (全局权限), add the following permissions: “TranslateFullAccess”、“I18nTranslateFullAccess”
7. set appid and key with source = "volcengine" and have fun with volcengine_translate()

to use caiyun (彩云小译) translate:

1. go to https://platform.caiyunapp.com/login and register
2. login with your account, create a translation app (创建应用) choose 翻译 as 接口类型
3. get the token, set it as the key with source = "caiyun" using set_translate_option()
4. have fun with caiyun_translate()
5. caiyun currently supports from = {zh(中文), en, ja(日语), auto(自动识别)} and to = {en, ja, zh}, default from is auto

to use tencent (腾讯机器翻译) translate:

1. go to https://console.cloud.tencent.com and register;
2. login with your account, go to https://console.cloud.tencent.com/tmt to enable machine translation (启用机器翻译);
3. go to https://console.cloud.tencent.com/cam/user/userType, create a sub-account, in Permissions (权限) - Permissions policy (权限策略), search and add QcloudTMTFullAccess;
4. get your API keys at API keys (API 密钥) of the same page in step 3. set SecretId as the appid and SecretKey as secrets respectively with source = "tencent" using set_translate_option()
5. have fun with tencent_translate()
6. for supported languages, visit https://cloud.tencent.com/document/product/551/15611 for more information.

to use chatglm (智谱清言ChatGLM) translate:

1. go to https://open.bigmodel.cn and register;
2. login with your account, go to https://open.bigmodel.cn/usercenter/apikeys to get your API key;
3. set the one-line API key as key (no need for setting appid) with source = "chatglm" using set_translate_option()
4. have fun with chatglm_translate()
5. you can also set model you prefer to use with the option user_model when using set_translate_option(), currently user_model can be set as glm-4 (by default), glm-4v, glm-3-turbo.

helper functions:

• gene_summary() allows retrieving gene information from NCBI.
• translate_ggplot() allows translating axis labels of a ggplot graph.
• ydict() allows query word from youdao dictionary.

🉐 Examples

library(fanyi)

##
## run `set_translate_option()` to setup
##

text <- '我都不知道做人该怎么办，总之报纸写啥就信啥，电视演啥我就看啥。'

translate(text, from='zh', to='en')

I don’t even know what to do as a person. Anyway, I believe whatever is written in the newspaper and watch whatever is shown on TV.

translate(text, from='zh', to='th')

ผมไม่รู้ว่าการเป็นมนุษย์ควรทําอย่างไร สรุปแล้วหนังสือพิมพ์เขียนอะไรก็เชื่ออย่างนั้น ทีวีเล่นอะไรก็อ่านอย่างนั้น

translate(text, from='zh', to='jp')

私は人間としてどうすればいいのか分からないが、とにかく新聞は何を書いても何を信じても、テレビは何を演じても私は何を見てもいい。

translate(text, from='zh', to='fra')

Je ne sais pas quoi faire en tant que personne, je crois ce que les journaux écrivent, je regarde ce que la télévision fait.

library(DOSE)
library(enrichplot)
data(geneList)
de <- names(geneList)[1:200]
x <- enrichDO(de)
p <- dotplot(x)
p2 <- translate_ggplot(p, axis='y')
p3 <- translate_ggplot(p, axis='y', to='kor')
p4 <- translate_ggplot(p, axis='y', to='ara')
aplot::plot_list(English = p, Chinese = p2, 
                Korean = p3, Arabic = p4, ncol=2)

ydict("cell")

## 
##  Explains: 细胞
## 
##  Web: https://m.youdao.com/m/result?lang=en&word=cell

symbol <- c("CCR7", "CD3E")
gene <- clusterProfiler::bitr(symbol, 
            fromType = 'SYMBOL', 
            toType = 'ENTREZID', 
            OrgDb = 'org.Hs.eg.db')

gene

##   SYMBOL ENTREZID
## 1   CCR7     1236
## 2   CD3E      916

res <- gene_summary(gene$ENTREZID)
names(res)

## [1] "uid"         "name"        "description" "summary"

d <- data.frame(desc=res$description,
              desc2=translate(res$description))
d

##                                             desc                   desc2
## 1                 C-C motif chemokine receptor 7    C-C基序趋化因子受体7
## 2 CD3 epsilon subunit of T-cell receptor complex T细胞受体复合物CD3ε亚基

res$summary

[1] The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor family. This receptor was identified as a gene induced by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and is thought to be a mediator of EBV effects on B lymphocytes. This receptor is expressed in various lymphoid tissues and activates B and T lymphocytes. It has been shown to control the migration of memory T cells to inflamed tissues, as well as stimulate dendritic cell maturation. The chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 19 (CCL19/ECL) has been reported to be a specific ligand of this receptor. Signals mediated by this receptor regulate T cell homeostasis in lymph nodes, and may also function in the activation and polarization of T cells, and in chronic inflammation pathogenesis. Alternative splicing of this gene results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2014]

[2] The protein encoded by this gene is the CD3-epsilon polypeptide, which together with CD3-gamma, -delta and -zeta, and the T-cell receptor alpha/beta and gamma/delta heterodimers, forms the T-cell receptor-CD3 complex. This complex plays an important role in coupling antigen recognition to several intracellular signal-transduction pathways. The genes encoding the epsilon, gamma and delta polypeptides are located in the same cluster on chromosome 11. The epsilon polypeptide plays an essential role in T-cell development. Defects in this gene cause immunodeficiency. This gene has also been linked to a susceptibility to type I diabetes in women. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

translate(res$summary)

[1] 该基因编码的蛋白质是G蛋白偶联受体家族的成员。该受体被鉴定为由爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）诱导的基因，被认为是EBV对B淋巴细胞影响的介质。这种受体在各种淋巴组织中表达，并激活B和T淋巴细胞。它已被证明可以控制记忆T细胞向炎症组织的迁移，并刺激树突细胞成熟。趋化因子（C-C基序）配体19（CCL19/ECL）已被报道为该受体的特异性配体。由该受体介导的信号调节淋巴结中的T细胞稳态，也可能在T细胞的活化和极化以及慢性炎症发病机制中发挥作用。该基因的选择性剪接导致多种转录变体。【由RefSeq提供，2014年9月】

[2] 该基因编码的蛋白质是CD3ε多肽，它与CD3γ、δ和ζ以及T细胞受体α/β和γ/δ异二聚体一起形成T细胞受体-CD3复合物。该复合物在将抗原识别与几种细胞内信号转导通路偶联方面起着重要作用。编码ε、γ和δ多肽的基因位于11号染色体上的同一簇中。ε多肽在T细胞发育中起着至关重要的作用。这种基因的缺陷会导致免疫缺陷。该基因也与女性患I型糖尿病的易感性有关。【由RefSeq提供，2008年7月】

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