So, what have you been reading recently? | 📚 Weekly book discussion, review, and recommendations thread, June 28th, 2026 : books

[–] CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Check out my speech to text suite, if you're not using tools it will speedrun your efforts for your friends. https://codeberg.org/CritBase111/speech-to-text

If you have yt-dlp installed, you can just do:

stt transcribe youtube.com/watch/etc --target-lang es --format txt,srt

This will pull the video (not just from YouTube), transcribe to a txt and SRT files (subtitles), and translate to Spanish, all locally. Translation has some varying results.

If you have a lot of videos you can pre download them, then run stt with a --batch command on the entire folder containing all your videos.

Or there is also a simple GUI that you launch with 'stt gui'

Unfortunately codeberg had a server outage and may not be entirely back yet so I'm not sure if its accessible right now. If it's not back let me know and I'll upload the files somewhere else temporarily.

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

my mama taught me to not click links from strangers but I will check it out, securely....in a secure way...

EDIT: ALSO HELL YEAH, pip <3

"If you have a lot of videos you can pre download them, then run stt with a --batch command on the entire folder containing all your videos.

Or there is also a simple GUI that you launch with ‘stt gui

pls pls dont fry my brain, tears are running down my face rn what WHAT DO I DO HOW

[–] CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

run the install command for your OS in a terminal window! They are located here: https://codeberg.org/CritBase111/speech-to-text#quick-install. So if you are on Windows for example it's the iwr command that's followed by a link.

After you have installed stt correctly (the installer will tell you "stt installed, Open a NEW terminal window and type: stt --help"), exit the terminal window and open a new one. In the new windowe, run 'stt gui' from your terminal (powershell if on windows). It contains all the options the tool offers. By 'run from the terminal' I mean literally just open a terminal window and type the command + enter). It opens a window that looks like this:

So for example, since you are translating videos, you can paste the youtube URL to the video in the input field, then change the Target field in 'Model & Language' to the language you are translating to. If you scroll down in the graphical interface, you will see output formats, and you can select 'txt' to make a simple text file, or also check 'srt' for a subtitles file - a subtitles file can be immediately loaded into the video.

Then press the Transcribe button in the bottom left. It can take a while, but it will work. It will save the files on your computer, transcribed and translated!

It's still a few instructions but I tried to make the app as user-friendly as I could 🙏 the hardest part is installing it - when it's running it can't destroy anything on your computer, at most it creates files (the transcriptions) that you can delete.

if you want to use the terminal version, do 'stt transcribe --help' and it will show you the commands you can use. But the graphical interface is the exact same as the terminal version, you're not missing out on anything if you use the interface.

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 ths is like quantum physics to me, but i will try my best to do as instructed

[–] CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

which operating system are you on? I can provide more specific instructions.

The difficult part is installing the program, using it will come naturally once you've done it once or twice.

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh i believe it is windows 11

[–] CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Okay, so, I had to look at the windows flow a bit more in-depth. Winget was a good tool but it's actually unmaintained and people have been reporting some possible malicious packages. So I redid the entire install script to not use winget anymore. It's much easier to install stuff on Linux, there the install script would have just done everything for you 😭 but no worries, it is what it is.

What you will need:

Install the latest Python version here: https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/. Python now offers the 'install manager', and they said this is how you will install Python from now on. So it's probably better to use the install manager, and install the latest 3.12.x version of Python from it. Add it to your PATH if there is a checkbox for it, otherwise it will be pretty much useless (it should just be checked by default but it is what it is).
ffmpeg: ffmpeg is required for STT to work. On its own website, ffmpeg links to this website: https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/. Scroll down and download ffmpeg-release-full.7z. This is a guide that explains what to do with this zip file afterwards: https://www.wikihow.com/Install-FFmpeg-on-Windows. I'm sorry that ffmpeg is such a mess to install on windows but they don't provide an installer unfortunately.
yt-dlp: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases. The latest as of writing is yt-dlp 2026.06.09, and the file is simply called yt-dlp.exe. Click on it in the list to download, then run the .exe to install yt-dlp on your computer.
Pandoc: You can install pandoc from here: https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/releases. The latest as of writing is pandoc-3.10-windows-x86_64.msi - it's also an installer that you just run to install pandoc.

Then you can run the install script provided on my codeberg repo. In Powershell (not cmd):

iwr https://codeberg.org/CritBase111/speech-to-text/raw/branch/main/install.ps1 | iex

The install script is very simple; it just sets up a folder called stt in C:\Users\YourUsername. Everything that STT sets up by itself stays within that stt\ folder. When stt is installed correctly, the installer script will tell you with the words "stt installed. Open a NEW terminal window and type: stt --help"

Open a new cmd or powershell, and simply run the command 'stt gui'. It will open the user interface in a new window, which is probably easier to use. I find that when I was on Windows I preferred user interfaces, and on Linux I prefer command-line tools lol.

The first time you actually start transcribing or translating a video, stt will automatically download the models. This happens automatically, you just have to wait. But it means the first transcription will take a bit more time to finish.

If you ever want to uninstall stt from your computer, run this in PowerShell:

# Windows (PowerShell)
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path.Replace("$HOME\stt\.venv\Scripts", ""), "User")
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $HOME\stt

ffmpeg, yt-dlp and pandoc are pretty nice tools to have on any computer. ffmpeg can convert and compress any video file. yt-dlp allows you to download videos from any website by just running 'yt-dlp https://link.com/' in the CMD, and pandoc can convert any text format to any other text format, so you can convert . So they are dependencies, but they are generally good tools to have. Python as well is pretty nice to have as a lot of open-source software uses python. You only install it once then most open-source software is available to you.

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 6 days ago

🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 i have python and i have ytdl...the trouble here is....should i trust u or not 😔

[–] TabularTuxedo@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Why not WSL?

Open PowerShell in administrator mode by right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator"
Run wsl --install
Reboot the computer
Go to the Microsoft Store and search for "Ubuntu"
Install Ubuntu
Now you have the Ubuntu distribution of Linux in your computer
Open Ubuntu and set a password
Follow your instructions in Codeberg

I can't recall if there's any set-up besides this, but I think that using WSL is better than rawdogging EXEs in Windows.

[–] CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

That's actually very smart, for people who aren't afraid of using WSL. Then you would just sudo apt installthe dependencies (and I assume since it's an ubuntu subsystem it already has python 3.12), and then run the installer for Linux through WSL:

curl -fsSL https://codeberg.org/CritBase111/speech-to-text/raw/branch/main/install.sh | bash

I also heard that your C:\ drive mounts in the WSL through /mnt/c/, so you can pass any audio file to stt by simply specifiying 'stt transcribe "/mnt/c/Documents/my_video.mp4"'

but I assume you will have to run stt through the WSL cli from then on?

[–] TabularTuxedo@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Yes it would be the CLI. Thing is that it's simpler since the Linux filesystem gets exposed in the File Manager (it's literally a "Linux" tab next to "This computer")

So, you can just drag and drop a file from the Videos folder in Windows into Linux and vice-versa.

So you could drag the video into Linux, run stt transcribe /home/user/my_video.mp4 and then grab it back to Windows Videos folder (or just use the Linux folder since it's treated as a regular directory by Windows)

It's easier for a beginner than messing with mounting and mv. It's what I do in my work computer whenever I need to do something with yt-dlp.

It's very, very convenient. I wonder if WSL is the reason why winget was abandoned

[–] Makan@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wait

Wait wait wait...

This does translation from English into Spanish?!

For subtitles in a video, correct?

Hopefully, I am following this convo along well enough.

Anyway, a translation tool, preferably one I don't really have to pay for, is what I want for my YouTube and TikTok channels, and one that can put subtitles I the video and put the subtitles or lines basically where they should be as the video goes along lol

[–] CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 week ago

yep, it does everything.

stt transcribe 'file.mp4' --target-lang es,fr,pt,jp --format srt will transcribe the audio from the video (auto-detects language), then translate the result into their own .srt (subtitles) files. You can chain arguments together such as es,fr,pt,jp -> it will create a different file for each combination. so one .srt for spanish, one .srt for french, etc.

stt translate 'file.txt' --source-lang en --target-lang --format txt,srt will only translate a previously existing text file. you can chain --format (or any argument, including the input files) to output the translation as plain text file, and another .srt file

if you have pandoc and yt-dlp installed, the app integrates with them to provide more input and output formats with pandoc, and yt-dlp to download the video automatically from a web page (so instead of 'file.mp4' you can provide a youtube link). It automatically uses them, you don't have to do anything special.

it also needs python 3.10 or higher and ffmpeg to work. It downloads the models on first use, expect about 5-10 gigabytes of download. Needs I would say around 4GB of Vram at the minimum to work.

translation can be hit or miss in terms of quality, some language pairs work better than others. If it's bad, just open deepseek web, switch to expert, paste the original subtitles, and tell it to 'translate these subtitles to [language], output within three backticks for code formatting'.

[–] Saymaz@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

🫡

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 week ago

comrade 💞

[–] Makan@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You need to break your anhedonia and depression too.

Be weary of the burnout.

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

FOR SURE. sertraline is the glue keeping my mindparts together rn. AND hyperfixating on translating videos

my anhedonia is balancing the uuuuh, i have UUUUUUUUUUUUH orthodox coping mechanisms (taht's the FORCED catholic & their guilts istg) that soothe my nervous system(s) so i gotta be careful not to travel too far into the Pleasures of the Flesh.

i hast been burntout. i'm a liability. i have to set Hyperfixation on default rn bc of...stuff

[–] Makan@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I grew up in a mostly Catholic household but never really learned about Islam that much despite father being Turkish.

I have religious trauma, especially since around 2013 to 2014, linked to my OCD. I am currently doing ERP after "toughing it out" for so long.

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Same here, it sucks. So I understand where you're coming from. Are you interested about learning about Islam? I'm just saying, because you mentioned it, do you have family from your father's side that isn't catholic? Maybe you can begin your search there, ofc this in context of assuming you are interested in the first place.

Ty for sharing with me, I have the catholic guilt still attached deep within my bones too. I'm happy in the sense that you could pinpoint part of what worsens your OCD, the ERP will def help with alleviating symptoms. It's gonna work out, I know it will, comrade. You can rest and you can breathe in safety now.

[–] Makan@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have read the Qur'an but not the hadiths except maybe a few excerpts.

Also, my dad is literally a Kemalist and hates any Syrian, Qatari, Saudi, Lebanese, Omani, UAE, etc. immigrants to Türkiye.

He is not Catholic lol he is actually pretty atheist last I checked, even if the Ottoman aristocratic nobility that he ultimately hails from (no, I shit you not about that part lol) had at least ostensibly Muslim adherents.

My Mom is Catholic. She is Dominican. My family treats her like shit. 💀💀

Also, I only really "like" (or I guess am somewhat interested in again now) Catholicism due to Pope Frank and now Pope Leo (especially with what he wrote recently)... but honestly? Most Catholics, especially the born-again variety like J. D. Vance, really suck. Tbh, I did really like the baroque stuff and other aesthetics of Catholicism throughout the centuries... but that's because Protestant churches are so drab in comparison.

Also, Protestant churches have a big problem with not only pedophilia and sex pestery like the Catholic Church but also millennarianism too and other really bad apocalyptic belief systems, especially nowadays.

Tbh, I don't know what to think about the Catholic Church at this point, but honestly, I look at the Unitarian Universalist church near me and have even thought about attending some events to see what social clubs they have (which I feel like I should at le4do since I may never come back to Virginia).

They also tend to be leftwing or even kinda leftist depending on the area.

And I kinda think "Damn, kinda wish most churches were a bit more like that one."

But honestly, I am really anti-religion at this point.

I might actually prefer Khruschev's policy towards religion over Stalin's ngl 😭😭

And the religious trauma I experienced back in around 2013 or 2014 DURING EXAM WEEK MIND YOU honestly fucked me up more than even I seem to really know.

Filled me with dread, anxiety, raw fear, panic, etc.

Anyway...

I guess I should also say that my Mom is also kind-of a "New Age-y" lapsed Catholic and literally loves the Cathars lol

Ahhhh...

Yes...

Those damn Cathars...

At first, when you read about them in some history book, you're kinda like "Oh, very cool"

Then one of your friends, your Mom, someone you know, etc. can't shut up about them and you're all like:

"Girl, we don't even know that much about them!!" 😭😭

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

im just an atheist pagan now. the contradiction serves a purpose.

have you considered uuuuuuh, not needing a church?

[–] Makan@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

yeah, i heard about atheist pagans

I am deeply interested in paganism now

especially since paganism never really dissappeared from 19th century or even 20th century Europe at all.

It's still there.

The Druidic order in England seems interesting

But honestly, the Turkish groups kinda fascinate me

That said

I agree on the church bit

but I do kinda want a "religion" or "spirituality" or whatever the fuck we call it now

just to experiment

nothing more

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

then u have a whole spectrum to research from, considering where you're from, where your mom is from, your roots wat you're looking to experiment with, what you "want/need" out of the practice, if u want community or doing your spirit work on ur own, etc i refuse to influence u, u gotta do the research urself, be wary of cults, use the marxist framework of "who benefits from this?" and does it align w ur marxism, stuff like that. i dont mix my knowledge on marxism w my spirituality just an fyi, i mean, could i? sure but there's alot of baggage around why i practice what i practice which uuuuh idk might be a liability to the path.

edit: wait actually, the marxist-leninist framework deeply influences my spiritual practices, not the other way around....so maybe...not a liability? who knows.

[–] Makan@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Oh kewl

Yeah, definitely be wary of cults, especially now.

Oh, and what is "spirit work"?

[–] catonion@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

spiritual rituals tied to my practice <3

[–] Makan@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 6 days ago

Oho kewl

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