Translate text with Cloud Translation Basic

This page shows you how to translate a sample text by using Cloud Translation Basic.

Before you begin

Before you can start using the Cloud Translation API, you must have a project that has the Cloud Translation API enabled, and you must have the appropriate credentials. You can also install client libraries for common programming languages to help you make calls to the API. For more information, see the Setup page.

Translate text example

The following example demonstrates how to use Cloud Translation - Basic to translate text to a given target language.

REST

Make a Cloud Translation - Basic request using a REST method call to the Basic translate method. You identify your source and target languages by using their ISO-639 codes.

The following shows an example of a POST request using curl or PowerShell.

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • PROJECT_NUMBER_OR_ID: the numeric or alphanumeric ID of your Google Cloud project

HTTP method and URL: 

POST https://translation.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2

Request JSON body: 

{
  "q": "The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex.",
  "source": "en",
  "target": "es",
  "format": "text"
}

To send your request, choose one of these options:

curl

Save the request body in a file named request.json, and execute the following command: 

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
     -H "x-goog-user-project: PROJECT_NUMBER_OR_ID" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
     -d @request.json \
     "https://translation.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2"

PowerShell

Save the request body in a file named request.json, and execute the following command: 

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred"; "x-goog-user-project" = "PROJECT_NUMBER_OR_ID" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
    -Method POST `
    -Headers $headers `
    -ContentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" `
    -InFile request.json `
    -Uri "https://translation.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2" | Select-Object -Expand Content

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "data": {
    "translations": [{
      "translatedText": "La Gran Pirámide de Giza (también conocida como la Pirámide de Khufu o la Pirámide de Keops) es la más antigua y más grande de las tres pirámides en el complejo de la pirámide de Giza."
    }]
  }
}

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Cloud Translation quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Cloud Translation Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Translation, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"

	"cloud.google.com/go/translate"
	"golang.org/x/text/language"
)

func translateText(targetLanguage, text string) (string, error) {
	// text := "The Go Gopher is cute"
	ctx := context.Background()

	lang, err := language.Parse(targetLanguage)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("language.Parse: %w", err)
	}

	client, err := translate.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return "", err
	}
	defer client.Close()

	resp, err := client.Translate(ctx, []string{text}, lang, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("Translate: %w", err)
	}
	if len(resp) == 0 {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("Translate returned empty response to text: %s", text)
	}
	return resp[0].Text, nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the Cloud Translation quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Cloud Translation Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Translation, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

// TODO(developer): Uncomment these lines.
// import com.google.cloud.translate.*;
// Translate translate = TranslateOptions.getDefaultInstance().getService();

Translation translation = translate.translate("¡Hola Mundo!");
System.out.printf("Translated Text:\n\t%s\n", translation.getTranslatedText());

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the Cloud Translation quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Cloud Translation Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Translation, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {Translate} = require('@google-cloud/translate').v2;

// Creates a client
const translate = new Translate();

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment the following lines before running the sample.
 */
// const text = 'The text to translate, e.g. Hello, world!';
// const target = 'The target language, e.g. ru';

async function translateText() {
  // Translates the text into the target language. "text" can be a string for
  // translating a single piece of text, or an array of strings for translating
  // multiple texts.
  let [translations] = await translate.translate(text, target);
  translations = Array.isArray(translations) ? translations : [translations];
  console.log('Translations:');
  translations.forEach((translation, i) => {
    console.log(`${text[i]} => (${target}) ${translation}`);
  });
}

translateText();

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the Cloud Translation quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Cloud Translation Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Cloud Translation, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

def translate_text(target: str, text: str) -> dict:
    """Translates text into the target language.

    Target must be an ISO 639-1 language code.
    See https://g.co/cloud/translate/v2/translate-reference#supported_languages
    """
    from google.cloud import translate_v2 as translate

    translate_client = translate.Client()

    if isinstance(text, bytes):
        text = text.decode("utf-8")

    # Text can also be a sequence of strings, in which case this method
    # will return a sequence of results for each text.
    result = translate_client.translate(text, target_language=target)

    print("Text: {}".format(result["input"]))
    print("Translation: {}".format(result["translatedText"]))
    print("Detected source language: {}".format(result["detectedSourceLanguage"]))

    return result

Additional languages

C#: Please follow the C# setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Cloud Translation reference documentation for .NET.

PHP: Please follow the PHP setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Cloud Translation reference documentation for PHP.

Ruby: Please follow the Ruby setup instructions on the client libraries page and then visit the Cloud Translation reference documentation for Ruby.

Additional resources