`language`

The Mac reads for you — on the customer's own machine, nothing leaves it.

Timings are measured, never guessed — a 7,500-invoice database on an Apple-silicon Mac, warm, median of many runs (Spikes/CommandTimingSpike). green never needs a thought · amber is felt in a loop · red takes real time, show progress.

Every command on this page carries a worked example.

text function

language.text(text, placeholders)

A sentence meant for the person's eyes, in their language. The string in the code is the base language — no invented key — and without a translation, or in a single-language application, it comes back unchanged. Mark only what people read: a value in a where(…) is data and must never be translated. The IDE finds every marked sentence and lists it in the Translations editor by itself.

Placeholders instead of concatenation — {number} travels with the translation, so a language with a different word order puts it where it belongs. A translation that loses a placeholder is reported as an error.

Worked example

messages.alert(language.text("Saved!"));
const line = language.text("Invoice {number} saved",
                           { number: invoice.number });

detect function

language.detect(text) ≈ 0.8 ms

The language of a text — "de", or null when the Mac cannot tell.

Worked example

const answer = xml.build({
    order: { number: form.record.number, total: form.record.total }
});
files.writeText(target, answer);

sentiment function

language.sentiment(text) ≈ 1.5 ms

The mood, as −1…+1 — a complaint reads negative before anybody read it.

Worked example

const from = language.detect(form.record.note);
form.languageLabel.value = from === null
    ? "" : "Written in " + system.languageName(from);

canTranslate function

language.canTranslate(from, to)

Answers ready / needsDownload / unsupported first, so the first translation is not a surprise download.

Worked example

const mood = language.sentiment(form.record.note);
form.moodLabel.value = mood < -0.3 ? "Sounds unhappy"
                     : mood >  0.3 ? "Sounds pleased" : "";

translate function

language.translate(text, { to }) ≈ 0.35 s per sentence, warm

Apple's on-device translation — nothing leaves the Mac.

Ask canTranslate first and offer the download knowingly — and system.language is usually the honest target: the reader's own.

Worked example

// The contact window's button:
const from = language.detect(form.record.note);
if (from !== null && language.canTranslate(from, system.language) === "ready") {
    form.record.noteTranslated =
        language.translate(form.record.note, { to: system.language });
    form.record.save();
}