Blog post with some background information: Telsis language ("Nunkish") translator with Flutter UI
This application is based on the Telsis language translator written in Python 3. It has been rewritten in Dart with a UI written in Flutter. The application translates to and from the Telsis language (aka Nunkish), the language used in the world setting of Violet Evergarden. The language is created by translating the source text into Tamil, converting the Tamil script into unaccented English alphabet characters, using a substitution cipher to swap the characters, and finally representing the results in the Telsis alphabet. The References section contains more information about decoding the language and the original script from which the Python 3 translator was built on.
(Note: This application is my first attempt at writing something in Dart and Flutter. There are probably better ways to write some of the code, such as those dealing with Map iterations. The application has been tested on a Linux machine, Windows 10 machine, and an Android phone. I do not have an iPhone or Mac so it will not be possible for me to package for those platforms. Of course, you can be a kind soul and buy me a Mac computer and pay for the developer program account so that I can package for those platforms. 😉 )
The advantage of using Flutter for the UI is that the application can easily be built to run on many platforms. For example, this is the application running on an Android phone.
And the same application running natively in Linux.
Releases are currently available for Linux (as a snap package), Windows (as a self-extracting installer), and Android (as APK, signed using the debug key).
On Linux, the snap can be installed using sudo snap install telsis-translator-flutter. A desktop entry should be created under the Accessories category.
If you do not want to install the release, you can install Flutter on your system and use flutter run to run this application. Please follow the instructions here to install Flutter for your system. Then, clone this repository, go into the repository folder, and run flutter run -d linux or flutter run -d windows or flutter run -d macos depending on what system you are on. Note that this application has only been tested on Linux (Linux Mint 20.1), Windows 10, and an Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S7).
To install the APK, you need to enable your Android to install unknown apps. Go to Settings > Apps > Menu > Special access. Choose Install unknown apps. Then, use a file manager on your phone to navigate to wherever the APK has been downloaded, and click on the APK to install it. You can also build the APK on your own (after installing Flutter and cloning this repository) by using flutter build apk. Once the APK has been built, you can connect your phone to the computer and use flutter install to install the APK to your phone.
To install the self-extracting installer, download the .exe file, then double click on it to run it. Follow the installation prompts.
Once installed, the application can be run as per an app on Android or Linux.
Build instructions can be found here.
Either the source or target language must be specified in order for the translator to work. They must also not be the same. The application will also refuse to translate from one real world language to another real world language, so it cannot be used as a free translation app.
If Telsis is specified as the source language, the translator will attempt to translate the source text into the given target language, which defaults to English if not specified. If a source language other than Telsis is specified, the translator will attempt to translate the source text into Telsis.
If Telsis is specified as the target language, the translator will attempt to translate the source text into Telsis, guessing the source language if it is not specified. If a target language other than Telsis is specified, the translator will assume the source text is in the Telsis language and attempt to translate the source text into the given target language.
Names can be enclosed in backslashes so that they appear correctly in translated text. A backslash is also used as an escape character. If the use of backslash can result in such characters, leave a space after the backslash.
Note: Punctuation is sometimes not handled properly, so it is best to avoid using punctuation marks in the source text.
The UI was written in Flutter and uses the following packages:
dropdown_search
diacritic
http
A modified version of translator by Gabriel Pacheco is also used by the application. The package was modified to allow use of Tamil script in the conversion process.
flutter_launcher_icons was used to create the icons for Android.
- Original Python script by Valkren, which translates Telsis into English
- Reddit post on decoding the Telsis language
- Please see this explanation for more information about how the Telsis language translator works, and the actual conversion process.
- 2021-04-03: Initial release (0.1.0).
- 2021-04-04: Packaged 0.1.0 for Windows using Inno Setup; added build instructions.
- 2021-04-05: Version 0.1.1; autofocus dropdown menu; removed dbus from snap; use
window_sizeplugin for window size and title. - 2021-07-23: Version 0.1.2; added About button.
- 2021-07-24: Version 0.1.3; switched to new flutter_form_builder version with accompanying form_builder_fields and form_builder_extra_fields packages that used to provide
FormBuilerTextFieldandFormBuilderSearchableDropdownwidgets. - 2021-07-26: Version 0.1.4_alpha; preliminary attempt to add OCR support for Android devices.
- 2022-02-13: Version 0.1.4; removed attempt to add OCR support; used new flutter_form_builder; switched to flutter-stable for snap
- 2022-08-31: Version 0.1.4; minor change to fix the backslash showing in the Telsis alphabet text
- 2022-09-01: Version 0.1.5; added null safety checks and such; handling of backslash is still unstable; unstable in Linux (depending on GTK version)
- 2022-09-01: Version 0.1.6; switched from flutter_form_builder to use dropdown_search instead
- 2022-09-03: Version 0.2.0; resolved issue with name_code replacement; added autofocus to dropdown search text fields
- 2022-10-01: Version 0.2.1; use SelectableText so that translated text can be copied and pasted elsewhere
This application is not for sale. It is meant for demonstration purpose only. No support is provided for this application. The rights to the Telsis language belong to the copyright holders of the Violet Evergarden anime series, and its portrayal in this application (as a font) is based on the concept of fair use. By using this application, the end user agrees to undertake full responsibility for using this application. The developer is not liable for any damage that may arise from the use of this application.
MIT License; see LICENSE file for more information.
The Telsis language font is for use with my programs and not for distribution.
Copyright (c) 2022 Vivian Ng