What is @google-cloud/translate?
@google-cloud/translate is a Node.js client library for Google Cloud Translation API. It allows developers to translate text between thousands of language pairs, detect the language of text, and get a list of supported languages.
What are @google-cloud/translate's main functionalities?
Translate Text
This feature allows you to translate text from one language to another. In this example, the text 'Hello, world!' is translated to Spanish ('es').
const {Translate} = require('@google-cloud/translate').v2;
const translate = new Translate();
async function translateText() {
const text = 'Hello, world!';
const target = 'es';
const [translation] = await translate.translate(text, target);
console.log(`Text: ${text}`);
console.log(`Translation: ${translation}`);
}
translateText();
Detect Language
This feature allows you to detect the language of a given text. In this example, the language of 'Bonjour le monde' is detected.
const {Translate} = require('@google-cloud/translate').v2;
const translate = new Translate();
async function detectLanguage() {
const text = 'Bonjour le monde';
const [detection] = await translate.detect(text);
console.log(`Text: ${text}`);
console.log(`Language: ${detection.language}`);
}
detectLanguage();
List Supported Languages
This feature allows you to get a list of all supported languages for translation. The example code retrieves and prints the list of supported languages.
const {Translate} = require('@google-cloud/translate').v2;
const translate = new Translate();
async function listLanguages() {
const [languages] = await translate.getLanguages();
console.log('Languages:', languages);
}
listLanguages();
Other packages similar to @google-cloud/translate
aws-sdk
The AWS SDK for JavaScript provides a set of services including Amazon Translate, which offers similar functionalities to @google-cloud/translate. Amazon Translate can translate text between multiple languages and detect the source language. However, it is part of a broader suite of AWS services and may require more setup if you are only interested in translation.
microsoft-cognitiveservices-speech-sdk
This SDK from Microsoft provides access to the Azure Cognitive Services, including the Translator Text API. It offers similar functionalities such as text translation and language detection. The Azure Translator Text API is known for its high-quality translations and extensive language support, comparable to Google Cloud Translation.
deepl
The deepl npm package provides access to the DeepL API, which is known for its high-quality translations. DeepL supports fewer languages compared to Google Cloud Translation but is often praised for its accuracy and fluency in translations. It is a good alternative if you need high-quality translations for supported languages.
The Cloud Translation API, can dynamically translate text between thousands of language pairs. The Cloud Translation API lets websites and programs integrate with the translation service programmatically. The Cloud Translation API is part of the larger Cloud Machine Learning API family.
Using the client library
-
Select or create a Cloud Platform project.
-
Enable billing for your project.
-
Enable the Google Cloud Translation API API.
-
Set up authentication with a service account so you can access the
API from your local workstation.
-
Install the client library:
npm install --save @google-cloud/translate
-
Try an example:
const {Translate} = require('@google-cloud/translate');
const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
const translate = new Translate({
projectId: projectId,
});
const text = 'Hello, world!';
const target = 'ru';
translate
.translate(text, target)
.then(results => {
const translation = results[0];
console.log(`Text: ${text}`);
console.log(`Translation: ${translation}`);
})
.catch(err => {
console.error('ERROR:', err);
});
Samples
Samples are in the samples/
directory. The samples' README.md
has instructions for running the samples.
The Cloud Translation API Node.js Client API Reference documentation
also contains samples.
Versioning
This library follows Semantic Versioning.
This library is considered to be General Availability (GA). This means it
is stable; the code surface will not change in backwards-incompatible ways
unless absolutely necessary (e.g. because of critical security issues) or with
an extensive deprecation period. Issues and requests against GA libraries
are addressed with the highest priority.
More Information: Google Cloud Platform Launch Stages
Contributing
Contributions welcome! See the Contributing Guide.
License
Apache Version 2.0
See LICENSE
What's Next
Read more about the client libraries for Cloud APIs, including the older
Google APIs Client Libraries, in Client Libraries Explained.