For the last year and a half or so I’ve been an avid user of Yoono. A browser plugin that allows me to review and update my Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare activity streams from within a side bar in my Firefox. I love it. It’s easy, simple and because it’s integrated in the browser it always keeps my Social streams in my perephial view. Right where I like it to be.

Now one of the things that I discovered recently is that it has a function to translate tweets right there and then in the sidebar itself. Simply right click the tweet and select “Translate (via google)”. The translated text is shown right there and then in your stream.

Ok, yes. Google translations aren’t exactly accurate all the time but in general they do the trick. And it means I could follow people I would otherwise not, simply because I can’t understand a thing they are saying.

Like Mitsuru Katoh (Katoman), a Fellow self-proclaimed Domino Geek and IBM Champion from Japan. My Japanese is next to zero so this translate function really helped me and made it possible for me to socially connect to someone I would otherwise probably not even know about.

Unfortunately this morning the translate function didn’t work and a tweet to @YoonoSupport helped clarify:  

@Yoono The translate (Google) function doesn’t seem to work this morning. Anything going on?

Ok, I can understand Google wanting to make a buck out of this (although I’d wonder who’d want to pay for the crappy translations they give) but maybe Google had an alternative reason as well. I can (somewhat) understand them trying to promote their own networks so maybe this is a function they wanted to keep free exclusively for their own platforms….. aka Google+! I know Mitsuru is on G+ so lets check it out…..
Well, you guessed it. No function there to translate from within the stream itself.

Yes I know about the other Google translate options for translating whole sites but that is not really an option to me. As a Dutch national I read & write in English, Dutch, German and (a little) French and I follow people in all of those languages. Now I don’t need (or want!) those translated as that sometimes means you lose part of the underlying sentiments and jokes. I want to be able to control which tweets I want translated and which I want to read in their original language. And I want to do it from within my active streams itself, not by having to step out to a different site. That takes out the whole social context in which I’m operating.

 So for now it seems I will have to unfollow Mitsuru… Not because he’s not nice or interesting but simply because I can’t understand his tweets (Sorry Mitsuru, I’ll buy you a drink at Lotusphere).

Oh and for those (like me) wondering what that second tweet form Mitsuru said? I ran it through the ordinary translator and it came up as “That I was better with an umbrella. Worry.“. 

I guess it was raining in Japan 🙂