A high-performance Go program that automatically translates Hugo blog posts and pages to multiple languages using Google Cloud Translate API.

• Batch Translation: Translates multiple text segments in a single API call for efficiency
• Parallel Processing: Processes multiple languages concurrently
• Smart Markdown Handling: Preserves code blocks, images, URLs, and Hugo shortcodes
• Post-Translation Fixes: Automatically fixes common markdown formatting issues introduced by translation
• Reading Time Calculation: Automatically adds reading time estimates to front matter
• Configuration-Based: Uses config.json for easy language and settings management
• Recursive Directory Scanning: Automatically finds and translates all index.en.md files in a directory tree

• Go 1.15 or later
• Google Cloud account with Translate API enabled
• Google Cloud service account credentials JSON file

1. Follow the Google Cloud Translate API setup guide
2. Create a service account and download the credentials JSON file
3. Place the credentials file as google-secret.json in the project directory (or configure a custom path in config.json)

git clone <repository-url>
cd Translator
go mod download
go build -o translate translate.go

Create a config.json file in the project root:

{
  "default_language": "en",
  "languages": ["en", "es", "fr", "de", "nl"],
  "credentials_path": "google-secret.json",
  "file_names": ["_index", "index", "about"]
}

• default_language: Source language (default: "en")
• languages: Array of all languages including the default
• credentials_path: Path to Google Cloud credentials JSON (default: "google-secret.json")
• file_names: File name patterns to look for (optional, defaults to "index" and "_index")

./translate /path/to/file.md

This will create translated versions for all target languages configured in config.json (excluding the default language).

./translate /path/to/content/directory

The program will recursively scan the directory, find all index.en.md and _index.en.md files, and translate them to all configured target languages.

Translating:	 /content/blog/post/index.en.md
to: 		 /content/blog/post/index.es.md
Translating:	 /content/blog/post/index.en.md
to: 		 /content/blog/post/index.fr.md
Translating:	 /content/blog/post/index.en.md
to: 		 /content/blog/post/index.de.md

1. File Parsing: The program intelligently parses Markdown files, identifying:

   • Front matter (YAML)
   • Code blocks (preserved as-is)
   • Images (translates alt text only)
   • Hugo shortcodes (preserved)
   • Callouts (preserved)
   • Regular content (translated)

2. Batch Translation: All translatable segments are collected and sent to Google Translate API in batches for efficiency

3. Post-Processing: After translation, the program:

   • Fixes markdown formatting (bold, italic)
   • Restores URLs that were modified by translation
   • Fixes HTML entities
   • Preserves Hugo shortcodes

4. Reading Time: Automatically calculates and adds reading time estimates to front matter

Important: Your source files must follow this naming pattern:

• index.en.md (not just index.md)
• _index.en.md for section index files

The program will create translated versions like:

• index.es.md
• index.fr.md
• index.de.md

• ✅ Front matter translation (title, description)
• ✅ Code block preservation
• ✅ Image alt text translation
• ✅ URL preservation
• ✅ Markdown formatting fixes
• ✅ Hugo shortcode preservation
• ✅ Callout preservation
• ✅ Reading time calculation
• ✅ Recursive directory scanning
• ✅ Parallel language processing

• Client Reuse: Single translate client instance reused across all translations
• Batch Translation: Multiple texts translated in single API calls
• Pre-compiled Regex: All regex patterns compiled once at startup
• Parallel Processing: Multiple languages processed concurrently
• Efficient String Building: Uses strings.Builder for output construction

Run the test suite:

# Run all tests
go test -v

# Run tests with coverage
go test -cover -v

# Run only unit tests (no API calls)
go test -v -run "TestIsValueInList|TestLoadConfig|TestApplyPostTranslationFixes|TestAddReadingTime"

Tests that require Google Translate API credentials will automatically skip if google-secret.json is not found.

• Designed for Hugo sites using the Toha theme, but should work with other themes
• Requires Google Cloud Translate API quota
• Some markdown formatting may need manual review after translation
• URLs in translated paths may be modified (program attempts to restore them)

PRs and issues are welcome! Please ensure:

• Code follows Go conventions
• Tests pass (go test)
• README is updated for new features

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Built for Hugo static site generation with Google Cloud Translate API.