Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
"APS Translation Service will be unavailable temporarily starting August 1, 2023.
"Requests received prior to August 1 are being processed.
"Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience."
How sad! And how not what I wanted to learn! I suppose that APS has simply had trouble finding translators/philatelists willing to undertake translations for relatively little money. Does anyone know more about this situation at APS? And...
Can anyone suggest a way that I can get the postcard translated? Here it is, in case you are interest in the postal card (and not necessarily in translating it to English):
Bob
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I would suggest the following as a start:
1. Create a good 300dpi or better scan of each side of the card.
2. Create an account on ChatGPT
3. Ask ChatGPT to (a) identify the language, and (b) translate the text.
4. It will ask you to drag the image to the designated spot on the page.
5. See what happens.
6. You could also ask for a copy of the original language in text as a word document, and enter than in Google Translate, and see if they come up with the same results. I don't know what translation engine ChatGPT uses, so they could be the same or different.
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09:35:55am
The card is written in Polish.
Dear Jacek!
From Drak’s last letter, we learned that you managed
to escape with your family to Gali. If this is true, it is
great news and a relief. We are not worried here
about winter; write modestly to Edek and do not waste
any answer. It's a pity that you and Gen are
stuck in the warehouse. Is Russia already in
Kraków? Drak is still having fun, and Lwów
remains quiet. I do not know whether we should
only be thinking of ourselves. Please write to me
about what is happening, and send
a Christmas letter to Europe’s Independent Nations,
which can be delivered by hand. Again, on the evening
of the 14th.
Merry Christmas
Greetings to Drak. Rysiu: please prove them
everything!!!
#### **Back Side (Addressed Side in Russian and Polish)**
```
POSTAL CARD
POSTCARD
Destination
Kraków
Tad. Kosciuszki 61
Recipient
J. Bierowska
Sender's Address
L. M.
Lwów
```
---
**Historical Context**
This postcard dates from the WWII era, likely from the period when Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) was under Soviet occupation (1939-1941) following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The stamps and official markings indicate Soviet control. The sender appears to be in Lwów, writing to someone in Kraków, which was under German occupation. The message expresses concern about the recipient's safety and mentions the Soviet presence in Poland, referring to Russia possibly being in Kraków. The reference to Christmas suggests it was written in December.
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Thanks Roy!
I've used this for several translation efforts and am reasonably impressed. The free version is limited to a few pages, maybe up to 8-10 pages per submittal, but apparently you can continue on a regular basis until you reach your daily limit on the free site.
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You guys have made my day! I've had this postal card for more than 20 years. A member of my stamp club was somewhat familiar with Polish history, but couldn't provide details. And now I know that it's just what I suspected it was, a postal card posted by a victim of the Soviet Occupation of Poland. Now I need to learn more about Chat GPT.
Bob
P.S. I think that the APS could do more than just inform members who inquire that their translation service is defunct. At least they could, maybe, suggest GPT or at least some commercial translation service.
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10:46:05pm
@bobstamp
Bob, just go to ChatGPT.com and sign in using your Google account if you have one, or create a free account.
Here is the difference between a free account and a paid one:
As of now (March 2025), the limits for free ChatGPT accounts using GPT-3.5 are generally as follows:
### Free Account (GPT-3.5):
- **Model access**: Only GPT-3.5 (not GPT-4)
- **Interaction cap**: There's typically **no fixed daily message limit**, but OpenAI may enforce **rate limits** or **temporary throttling** depending on server load.
- **Image input**: Not available
- **File upload & tools**: Not available (e.g., code interpreter, web browsing, DALL·E image generation, etc.)
### Paid Account (ChatGPT Plus – US$20/month):
- **Model access**: GPT-4 (specifically GPT-4-turbo)
- **Higher usage caps**
- **Access to advanced tools**:
- Code Interpreter (Python/Advanced Data Analysis)
- DALL·E (image generation)
- Image input capabilities
- File uploads (including PDFs, CSVs, etc.)
- Web browsing (for up-to-date info)
OpenAI sometimes adjusts limits dynamically based on demand and system capacity, so exact numbers might vary.
The query on your postal card could not have been done on the free account because of "**Image input**: Not available", so it's also not possible to gauge whether model 3.5 could have handled the translation.
I also tried the card in Grok, whose free account has limits, but I seldom hit them even in long-winded interactions. I prefer Grok for most technical/factual enquiries (ChatGPT can "hallucinate"and make up answers it thinks you will like), but in this case Grok seemed to fall into an infinite loop trying to read the handwriting.
Write to me if you want any guidance.
Roy
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Thanks for the hint Roy, never having heard of Grok I'll give it a try
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Two or three times I have sent covers and/or enclosures to the APS translation service. The responses have been useful and inexpensive — $10 – $15. I just sent another request, for the translation of a Russian postal card post apparently from Western Ukraine after the Soviet occupation of that country and Byelorussia. This is the auto response I got:
"APS Translation Service will be unavailable temporarily starting August 1, 2023.
"Requests received prior to August 1 are being processed.
"Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience."
How sad! And how not what I wanted to learn! I suppose that APS has simply had trouble finding translators/philatelists willing to undertake translations for relatively little money. Does anyone know more about this situation at APS? And...
Can anyone suggest a way that I can get the postcard translated? Here it is, in case you are interest in the postal card (and not necessarily in translating it to English):
Bob
Login to Like
this post
re: APS Translation Service — Dead?
I would suggest the following as a start:
1. Create a good 300dpi or better scan of each side of the card.
2. Create an account on ChatGPT
3. Ask ChatGPT to (a) identify the language, and (b) translate the text.
4. It will ask you to drag the image to the designated spot on the page.
5. See what happens.
6. You could also ask for a copy of the original language in text as a word document, and enter than in Google Translate, and see if they come up with the same results. I don't know what translation engine ChatGPT uses, so they could be the same or different.
Login to Like
this post
BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 500 categories
19 Mar 2025
09:35:55am
re: APS Translation Service — Dead?
The card is written in Polish.
Dear Jacek!
From Drak’s last letter, we learned that you managed
to escape with your family to Gali. If this is true, it is
great news and a relief. We are not worried here
about winter; write modestly to Edek and do not waste
any answer. It's a pity that you and Gen are
stuck in the warehouse. Is Russia already in
Kraków? Drak is still having fun, and Lwów
remains quiet. I do not know whether we should
only be thinking of ourselves. Please write to me
about what is happening, and send
a Christmas letter to Europe’s Independent Nations,
which can be delivered by hand. Again, on the evening
of the 14th.
Merry Christmas
Greetings to Drak. Rysiu: please prove them
everything!!!
#### **Back Side (Addressed Side in Russian and Polish)**
```
POSTAL CARD
POSTCARD
Destination
Kraków
Tad. Kosciuszki 61
Recipient
J. Bierowska
Sender's Address
L. M.
Lwów
```
---
**Historical Context**
This postcard dates from the WWII era, likely from the period when Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) was under Soviet occupation (1939-1941) following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The stamps and official markings indicate Soviet control. The sender appears to be in Lwów, writing to someone in Kraków, which was under German occupation. The message expresses concern about the recipient's safety and mentions the Soviet presence in Poland, referring to Russia possibly being in Kraków. The reference to Christmas suggests it was written in December.
6 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: APS Translation Service — Dead?
Thanks Roy!
I've used this for several translation efforts and am reasonably impressed. The free version is limited to a few pages, maybe up to 8-10 pages per submittal, but apparently you can continue on a regular basis until you reach your daily limit on the free site.
Login to Like
this post
re: APS Translation Service — Dead?
You guys have made my day! I've had this postal card for more than 20 years. A member of my stamp club was somewhat familiar with Polish history, but couldn't provide details. And now I know that it's just what I suspected it was, a postal card posted by a victim of the Soviet Occupation of Poland. Now I need to learn more about Chat GPT.
Bob
P.S. I think that the APS could do more than just inform members who inquire that their translation service is defunct. At least they could, maybe, suggest GPT or at least some commercial translation service.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 500 categories
20 Mar 2025
10:46:05pm
re: APS Translation Service — Dead?
@bobstamp
Bob, just go to ChatGPT.com and sign in using your Google account if you have one, or create a free account.
Here is the difference between a free account and a paid one:
As of now (March 2025), the limits for free ChatGPT accounts using GPT-3.5 are generally as follows:
### Free Account (GPT-3.5):
- **Model access**: Only GPT-3.5 (not GPT-4)
- **Interaction cap**: There's typically **no fixed daily message limit**, but OpenAI may enforce **rate limits** or **temporary throttling** depending on server load.
- **Image input**: Not available
- **File upload & tools**: Not available (e.g., code interpreter, web browsing, DALL·E image generation, etc.)
### Paid Account (ChatGPT Plus – US$20/month):
- **Model access**: GPT-4 (specifically GPT-4-turbo)
- **Higher usage caps**
- **Access to advanced tools**:
- Code Interpreter (Python/Advanced Data Analysis)
- DALL·E (image generation)
- Image input capabilities
- File uploads (including PDFs, CSVs, etc.)
- Web browsing (for up-to-date info)
OpenAI sometimes adjusts limits dynamically based on demand and system capacity, so exact numbers might vary.
The query on your postal card could not have been done on the free account because of "**Image input**: Not available", so it's also not possible to gauge whether model 3.5 could have handled the translation.
I also tried the card in Grok, whose free account has limits, but I seldom hit them even in long-winded interactions. I prefer Grok for most technical/factual enquiries (ChatGPT can "hallucinate"and make up answers it thinks you will like), but in this case Grok seemed to fall into an infinite loop trying to read the handwriting.
Write to me if you want any guidance.
Roy
Login to Like
this post
re: APS Translation Service — Dead?
Thanks for the hint Roy, never having heard of Grok I'll give it a try
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