# \[IGN-4876\]System.util.translate takes too long

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** ignition80\
**Created:** [October 8, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771 "2021-10-08T19:47:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Davide3i](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/davide3i/32/27811_2.png) [@Davide3i](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Davide3i)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 5:56am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771/21 "2022-04-11T05:56:08Z")

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Hello @paul-griffith, are there any news regarding this issue?  
Honestly the ability to properly and efficiently translate texts in Ignition Perspective is a must have and being forced to use a workaround is starting to feel just wrong by a paying customer side: it has been months without any kind of proper feedback on the matter.

I'm quoting your message from November 2021:

> [@paul-griffith](#):
>
> This is being treated as a pretty high priority issue and is _expected_ to be picked up and worked on within the next ~4 weeks. If that does happen, this _could_ go into 8.1.13. I would not rely on that, but that’s the best case scenario.

I get that fixing bugs requires time, but at the same time we're on version 8.1.16 and nothing has changed. Moreover 8.1.17 nightly versions' changelogs don't seem to deal with this issue, at the moment.  
Thank you.

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**Author:** ![louagejasper](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/louagejasper/32/86311_2.png) [@louagejasper](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/louagejasper)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 7:08am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771/22 "2022-04-11T07:08:14Z")

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@Davide3i  
Would your solution not be faster if you executed it like pturmel said? Or are you already doing it like that?

> Consider pre-translating all necessary static words into private session custom properties, where the translation is triggered only by changes in the locale. Then the heavily used expressions and transforms can simply reference `{session.props.custom.translated.wo}` or `{session.props.custom.translated.pc}` in a simple `stringFormat()` expression. (Bonus is that will avoid jython’s string interpolation in favor of java’s.)  
> (Possibly use an expression structure to generate `session.props.custom.translated.*` in one go.)

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**Author:** ![Davide3i](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/davide3i/32/27811_2.png) [@Davide3i](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Davide3i)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 7:10am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771/23 "2022-04-11T07:10:36Z")

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Hello @louagejasper!  
Yep, we are already doing it like that, but we’re still talking about a workaround.  
This and the fact the Translation Manager is still pretty bugged, it’s quite a turn down.  
I don’t want to sound as overly critic, but locales management is not the best Perspective feature at this moment.

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**Author:** ![louagejasper](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/louagejasper/32/86311_2.png) [@louagejasper](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/louagejasper)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 7:13am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771/24 "2022-04-11T07:13:18Z")

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Ok, good to know!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771/25 "2022-04-21T16:16:06Z")

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The core issue here with `system.util.translate` is fixed for 8.1.17; you will be able to test in tomorrow’s nightly build.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marek\_Uhlir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Marek\_Uhlir](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Marek_Uhlir)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 7:14am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771/26 "2025-11-11T07:14:09Z")

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**Hi everyone,**  
we’ve encountered the same issue with the **`translate()` expression function** on **Ignition 8.1.28**. This delay was significantly **slowing down the entire Gateway** and even caused **unexpected errors** in some cases.

I’d like to ask whether this problem has been **fixed in newer versions** (for example 8.1.31 or 8.3.x), or if it’s **better to use the translation via scripting** (`system.util.translate`) instead — i.e. if the script-based approach is more efficient or reliable?

I’m aware that newer versions have already **fixed translation issues in some components** (like tables), but there are still several cases where we need to use translations dynamically.

Thanks in advance for any clarification or feedback!  
**M.**

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Samuel\_Sueur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Samuel\_Sueur](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Samuel_Sueur)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771/27 "2025-11-11T15:09:44Z")

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I did experience slow translations with a 8.1.37 gateway.

It was really frustrating, and decided to come up with a solution of my own.

Essentially, this is somewhat of a drop-in replacement to the existing `translate()` expression function. All you have to do is perform a find and replace, search for `translate(` and replace with `runScript('yourLibrary.getTranslation', 0, `.

Put the below code in a scripting project library (I used `yourLibrary` in my example above)

```python
def getTranslationTerms():
	from com.inductiveautomation.ignition.gateway import IgnitionGateway
	from com.inductiveautomation.ignition.gateway.script import GatewaySystemUtilities
	system.util.globals["translations"] = {}
	package = IgnitionGateway.get().getLocalizationManager().loadFullPackage()
	
	for translation in package.getAllTranslations():
		try:
			system.util.globals["translations"][unicode(translation.getSourceTerm())] = {}
			system.util.globals["translations"][unicode(translation.getSourceTerm())][unicode(translation.getLocale())] = unicode(translation.getTranslation())
		except Exception as e:
			system.util.getLogger("badTranslation").info("following translation didn't work: " + unicode(translation.getSourceTerm()) + " " + unicode(translation.getLocale()) + " " + unicode(translation.getTranslation())) 

def getTranslation(sourceTerm, locale):
	try:
		locale = str(locale)[:2]
		sourceTerm = unicode(sourceTerm)
		if sourceTerm in system.util.globals["translations"] and locale in system.util.globals["translations"][sourceTerm]:
			return system.util.globals["translations"][sourceTerm][locale]
		return sourceTerm
	except Exception as e:
		return str(e)

```

and put this line in the gateway startup script and update script :

```python
yourLibrary.getTranslationTerms()

```

**Please note :** In the `getTranslation` function, the first line removes the last two characters of the locale in the `session.props.locale` . This worked nicely for my case, but might not work for you so you might have to tweak this.

What this code does is store in `globals` all the defined translations.

As everything is already loaded, the call to `getTranslation` is much faster. I haven’t experienced slow translations since using this.

Also apologies, this is definitely not my cleanest code and can certainly be improved.

Also, I’m fairly positive using the scripting approach you mentioned (`system.util.translate`) will yield **worse** results.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771/28 "2025-11-11T16:32:59Z")

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Both `system.util.translate` and the `translate` expression function essentially do what you're doing - cache the system's full translation package internally for quicker lookup. If you (or anyone else) is still experiencing performance issues on recent versions I'd request you contact support with some details so we can get a ticket going and investigate internally. We definitely don't want you to have to reach to manual solutions like this.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Arnaud\_Declerck](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/arnaud_declerck/32/44872_2.png) [@Arnaud\_Declerck](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Arnaud_Declerck)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/ign-4876-system-util-translate-takes-too-long/51771/29 "2025-11-12T14:20:21Z")

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I’ve build that ressource on the exchange.

> **[Ignition Exchange](https://inductiveautomation.com/exchange/2444/overview)**
>
> Discover, share, and download community made Ignition resources in collaboration with your organization or the Ignition community.

I don’t know if it’s something you could use for your usecase. Maybe some digging in the code will be required to understand and modify it.

One things sure, i don’t use the system.util.translate or translate expression in it.

Regards

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