The Good Tech Companies - 5 Open-Source Tools for Translation You can Use for Free—and Support via Kivach

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/5-open-source-tools-for-translation-you-can-use-for-freeand-support-via-kivach. There are some excellent free translation tools that support collaboration and improve quality. If you want to give back, you can support them via Kivach. Check more stories related to machine-learning at: https://hackernoon.com/c/machine-learning. You can also check exclusive content about #language-translation, #machine-translation, #open-source-software, #cryptocurrency-donations, #kivach, #kivach-donations, #obyte, #good-company, and more. This story was written by: @obyte. Learn more about this writer by checking @obyte's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Free translation tools make content, software, and knowledge more accessible worldwide. Aegisub, OmegaT, and Kivach are some of the most popular free translation tools. You can donate to these tools via Kvach, a donation platform built on Obyte.

This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. 5 open-source tools for translation you can use for free, and support via Kiva, by Obite. Translation helps people understand each other across languages, making content, software, and knowledge more accessible worldwide. As more open-source projects grow globally, having reliable, cost-free translation tools is essential. These tools help volunteers, professionals, and everyday users contribute to and benefit from multilingual content, without needing expensive software. Whether you're translating software strings, documents, or websites, there are excellent

free tools that support collaboration and improve quality through community feedback. If you'd like to give back, you can support some of these tools through Kiva, a donation platform built on obite. It lets you send cryptocurrency directly to any GitHub repository. Besides, what makes Kiva special is its ability to share those donations across connected projects automatically if the recipients decide so, benefiting not just one developer, but potentially many. It's a simple and impactful way to help sustain the free tools that make global communication

possible. This being said, let's explore some free translation tools ahead. AgaSub, this software was built for editing and timing subtitles, and it's especially used in the fansubbing community for translating and styling subtitles for anime, films, and other media. It was first developed by Niels Martin Hansen, Rodrigo Bras Monteiro, Thomas Goin, and others, and released in 2005. The tool is a modern follow-up to older subtitle editors like Substation Alpha and Sabu, and it works on Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and FreeBSD. What makes Agasib stand out is its powerful set of features.

It supports styling, karaoke effects, and detailed timings synced to both audio and video. Users can preview subtitles on video frames, adjust timings with waveforms or spectrums, and apply visual effects to match on-screen text. Agasib works primarily with the advanced substation alpha, ASS, format, which allows rich formatting, positioning, and animation of subtitles. It also integrates tools like FFMPEG and Avacynth and can be customized with Lua or Moonscript scripts for automation and advanced tasks. As an open source and free project, Agisib is maintained by volunteers and developers

who contribute in their spare time. Anyone can support it by reporting bugs, suggesting features, or submitting code via GitHub. Monetary support is also welcomed through donations, which help maintain its development. If you want to support them, you can also donate cryptocurrency via Kiva. Omega T Omega T is a tool designed to assist professional translators in managing their work more efficiently. It was first released in 2002, originally developed by Keith Godfrey. Since then, it has grown into a community project, currently led by developer Aaron Madeline Kay, with contributions from several other programmers.

The main goal of Omega T is to help translators organize and speed up their workflow using translation memories, rather than replacing human translation. By using this software, professionals and beginners can handle complex translation projects by breaking text into manageable segments. It uses Translation Memory, TM, to suggest past translations that match the current sentence, saving time and ensuring consistency. Built with Java, it works across different operating systems like Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Solaris. Users can translate multiple file types, consult glossaries and dictionaries, and even connect to machine translation services like DeepL or Google Translate IF desired. It also supports regular expression-based text segmentation and has built in spell checking. Omega T is maintained by volunteers and contributors

around the world. Its development benefits from a wide community that helps with coding, testing, documentation, and translating the interface. Rather than relying on corporate funding, Omega T thrives thanks to community involvement and optional donations from users who appreciate its value. To send some crypto to them, you can find them on Kiva as OmegaD.org, OmegaD. Translate Toolkit This software package was released in 2002 by Translate.org, ZA, a South African and profit organization, with early development led by David Fraser. Its main purpose is to help translators and localization engineers work more efficiently

by providing tools that handle a wide range of file formats used in software and document translation. The toolkit simplifies the process of preparing files for translation and checking the quality of translated text. The package is written in Python and is compatible with various operating systems. It allows users to convert files into industry standard formats like GetTextPO and XLIFF, ensuring consistency in translation workflows. It supports dozens of file types, from Mozilla DDDs to OpenOffice SDF files, and includes

tools like POCount for word counting and POFILTER for quality checks. It also integrates Enchant for spell checking. Thanks to its modular API, developers can expand the toolkit to suit their needs, adding custom tests, format converters, or even support for new languages. Translate Toolkit has been integrated into popular translation platforms like Poodle, WebLate, and Vertal, and is often used behind the scenes in projects like Libra Office and Ubuntu. Its development has been supported by community contributions and funding from organizations such as the NL Net Foundation.

Further monetary support can be sent with cryptocurrencies, via Kiva. Weblate, yes, we mentioned this one above, first released in March 2012 by Mihal Sihar, and implementing features from Translate Toolkit, Weblate aims to simplify the translation of software projects through the web. Its main goal is to bring translators and developers together by linking translations directly with version control systems, allowing for real-time collaboration as a project evolves. One of WebLate's strengths is how it integrates tightly with Git repositories, making it easy for translations to stay in sync with source code updates. ITRUN's on Python and Django, and supports a wide range of localization file for

MATs like Getextpo, xliff, and JSON. WebLate includes tools for quality control, such as customizable checks for errors, and supports automatic translation using services like Google Translate and DeepL. It's interface is USER-friendly, making it accessible for both experienced developers and beginner translators. The tool is trusted by many open-source projects like LibreOffice, Monero, Fedora, Kodi, and Godot Engine. WebLate is funded through donations, Kodi, and Godot Engine. Weblate is funded through donations, sponsorships, and optional paid hosting plans. Support comes from individual contributors and organizations via platforms like Open Collective and LibrePay, ensuring the project remains sustainable and community-driven. If you want to send them some crypto, they appear on Kiva as

WeblateOrg. Weblate. Hunspell Hunspell is a spell checking and word analysis tool first released around 2003. It was created by Laszlo Nemet, a Hungarian biologist and software developer who has long been active in the free software community. Initially built to support the Hungarian language and its complex grammar, Hunspell has since grown into a widely used solution for checking spelling and analyzing word forms in many languages, especially those with rich morphology. This software is designed to recognize and correct words based on customizable dictionaries, supporting Unicode, including UTF-8, and advanced rules for word formation. Its capabilities

go far beyond simple spell checking, it can handle complex affixation, word compounding, stemming, getting the root form of a word, and even morphological generation. Developers can integrate it through various APIs and command-line tools, and it's compatible with multiple platforms, including Linux, Windows, and macOS. Many well-known applications rely on Hunspell for their spell checking needs, LibreOffice, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Adobe InDesign, and even MacOS included. Contributions to Hunspell have come from various sources over time. Early backing came from Budapest Technical University's media center,

with continued support from the FSF. Who Foundation Now, if you want to contribute with cryptocurrency, you can send some coins via Kiva. Donate with Kiva. To support an open source project on GitHub with cryptocurrency, Kiva makes the process simple. Just install the Obite wallet,

load it with any supported token, like USDC, ETH, or BNB, and visit the Kiva site. There, enter the GitHub repository link you want to support, choose your preferred crypto network, pick a token, and set the amount to donate. Your contribution will be securely stored, even if the project owner hasn't set anything up yet. You can donate to any public repository, millions of them, without needing Thee developer's prior approval. The funds remain safe and reserved for them until they take action. To claim the donation,

the developer just needs an obit wallet and to complete a github attestation through the wallet's built-in bot store. No setup is needed beforehand, making it incredibly easy for both donors and recipients to participate in funding open-source work. Don't forget to check our previous episodes in this series. 5 open-source projects you can donate to ViaKiva, Episode 4, Privacy Tools. 5 open-source blogging and writing tools to donate to ViaKiva, EPV. 5 open-source tools you can donate to ViaKiva, Episode 6, Decentralized Services. 5 open-source projects to donate ViaKiva, Episode 7, Gamescentralized services. 5 open source projects to donate via Kiva.

Episode 7. Games to play for free. 5 cybersecurity tools to use for free and donate to via Kiva. 5 free data recovery and backup projects to donate to via Kiva. 5 open source learning software projects to donate via Kiva. 5 open source software for global teams to donate via Kiva. Author your own adventure with these 5 must try free tools. Featured vector image by FreePic Thank you for listening to this Hacker Noon story, read by Artificial Intelligence. Visit hackernoon.com to read, write, learn and publish.