5 ms·

Google Translate API is now deprecated.

69 points by Klonoar 15y ago

esrauch 15y ago
It's interesting that the reason for this is 'extensive abuse', does anyone know if it is talking about the 'translate party' websites that translate back and forth in rapid succession.
- wesley 15y ago
  Perhaps to create "unique content" in other languages, to rank in the local google search engines.
- JoachimSchipper 15y ago
  That seems unlikely - there aren't too many, they don't make that many calls, and Google could just shut them down. I think http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2590551 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2590551 (andymurd) presents a more likely explanation: > I think the "abuse" they are referring to is the common practise among blackhats of using Google Translate to spin stolen content to make it unique. Translating English -> $LANGUAGE -> English makes for a cheap, low grade article rewriter.
  - oelewapperke 15y ago
    But if you know what you're doing dozens of google api's are useful for this. I mean linguistics may not be all that far as a science, but it's advanced enough to whip some letters around without totally changing the meaning of the text. Google book search, for example, or google search itself, could easily be used for it.
- ojilles 15y ago
  Probably not entirely viable nor wanted, but this did give me the idea of Google Translate using steganography to detect translated text through Google Translate to spot abusers. Just by translating the texts a little bit different for each user.
- knowtheory 15y ago
  No i'm guessing it's things like the CNN scraper that was taking stories, automatically translating them to russian and then posting them. There was one in the news this week for having mistranslated Dominique Strauss Khan as the "head" (as in tip of penis) of the IMF.
corin_ 15y ago
A little more discussion on Google APIs being killed at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2589635 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2589635
deleted 15y ago
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deleted 15y ago
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franze 15y ago
here is my comment on the google code blogpost http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-cleaning-for-some-of-our-apis.html?showComment=1306481143396#c3564212561169948866 http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-cleaning-for-s... i recommend posting your disappointment there, too - as google obviously does not care about developers anymore (and so does also not care about hacker news discussions)
fun2have 15y ago
All I can say is give Micorsoft a try: http://www.microsofttranslator.com/dev/ http://www.microsofttranslator.com/dev/
- simonl 15y ago
  Thanks for the hot tip. And now here's my python wrapper for the Microsoft Translate API (bing) -- https://github.com/s29/mstranslate https://github.com/s29/mstranslate No limits, seemingly comparable translation quality. The API was a bit annoying, but hey no surprise there. Thanks Microsoft!
jonnycat 15y ago
This is a bit of a slap in the face -- could they not rate limit the service and charge for it?
po 15y ago
Wow, that is unexpected. I can think of a lot of developer tools that use google translate to give a rough first translate. Things like Wordpress and web framework plugins. It seems like they should have just dropped a fee structure on top of it and that would eliminate abuse. If any developers out there are looking for a new API to target, you could consider mygengo. It's not free (because it isn't machine translation), but they do have developer tools and an API available: http://mygengo.com/services/api/ http://mygengo.com/services/api/
- Klonoar 15y ago
  Full disclosure: I currently work with myGengo. That said, we definitely welcome developers to our services. I just wanted to take a second to note this for any Python developers interested in our services, though - if you don't like the supplied Python library (I didn't), I wrote a new more concise and documented version. It's easier to follow and extend, and has some functions to help with encoding/decoding characters. We're considering adopting this as the main Python library in the near future. Always interested in input from other developers! https://github.com/ryanmcgrath/pygengo https://github.com/ryanmcgrath/pygengo
aghilmort 15y ago
At least one developer is very upset about Google Translate API change: http://groups.google.com/group/google-ajax-search-api/browse_thread/thread/da649803321d338d?hl=en http://groups.google.com/group/google-ajax-search-api/browse...
icco 15y ago
Wow, this sucks. One of the reasons I historically haven't been worried about Google and some of the "evils" that people argue they are guilty of, is because they provide awesome APIs for developers free of charge and with next to no rate-limiting or authentication. This is a slippery slope for Google. Why should I build applications on top of their products, if I know that the API can be ripped out from under me?
tybris 15y ago
Darnit Google. Can't you keep any API running for more than 2 years? Just take a hint from AWS and sell them!
gmosx 15y ago
Recent developments in the 'Google Platform' front (new App Engine price structure, API shutdowns, crippled Google Apps Standard offering, etc) severely dented my belief on a "full cloud" future. Perhaps we shouldn't outsource (== depend) too much to cloud vendors.

69 points by Klonoar 15y ago

It's interesting that the reason for this is 'extensive abuse', does anyone know if it is talking about the 'translate party' websites that translate back and forth in rapid succession.

wesley 15y ago
Perhaps to create "unique content" in other languages, to rank in the local google search engines.
JoachimSchipper 15y ago
That seems unlikely - there aren't too many, they don't make that many calls, and Google could just shut them down. I think http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2590551 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2590551 (andymurd) presents a more likely explanation: > I think the "abuse" they are referring to is the common practise among blackhats of using Google Translate to spin stolen content to make it unique. Translating English -> $LANGUAGE -> English makes for a cheap, low grade article rewriter.
- oelewapperke 15y ago
  But if you know what you're doing dozens of google api's are useful for this. I mean linguistics may not be all that far as a science, but it's advanced enough to whip some letters around without totally changing the meaning of the text. Google book search, for example, or google search itself, could easily be used for it.
ojilles 15y ago
Probably not entirely viable nor wanted, but this did give me the idea of Google Translate using steganography to detect translated text through Google Translate to spot abusers. Just by translating the texts a little bit different for each user.
knowtheory 15y ago
No i'm guessing it's things like the CNN scraper that was taking stories, automatically translating them to russian and then posting them. There was one in the news this week for having mistranslated Dominique Strauss Khan as the "head" (as in tip of penis) of the IMF.

corin_ 15y ago

A little more discussion on Google APIs being killed at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2589635 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2589635

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

franze 15y ago

here is my comment on the google code blogpost http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-cleaning-for-some-of-our-apis.html?showComment=1306481143396#c3564212561169948866 http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-cleaning-for-s... i recommend posting your disappointment there, too - as google obviously does not care about developers anymore (and so does also not care about hacker news discussions)

fun2have 15y ago

All I can say is give Micorsoft a try: http://www.microsofttranslator.com/dev/ http://www.microsofttranslator.com/dev/

simonl 15y ago
Thanks for the hot tip. And now here's my python wrapper for the Microsoft Translate API (bing) -- https://github.com/s29/mstranslate https://github.com/s29/mstranslate No limits, seemingly comparable translation quality. The API was a bit annoying, but hey no surprise there. Thanks Microsoft!

jonnycat 15y ago

This is a bit of a slap in the face -- could they not rate limit the service and charge for it?

po 15y ago

Wow, that is unexpected. I can think of a lot of developer tools that use google translate to give a rough first translate. Things like Wordpress and web framework plugins. It seems like they should have just dropped a fee structure on top of it and that would eliminate abuse. If any developers out there are looking for a new API to target, you could consider mygengo. It's not free (because it isn't machine translation), but they do have developer tools and an API available: http://mygengo.com/services/api/ http://mygengo.com/services/api/

Klonoar 15y ago
Full disclosure: I currently work with myGengo. That said, we definitely welcome developers to our services. I just wanted to take a second to note this for any Python developers interested in our services, though - if you don't like the supplied Python library (I didn't), I wrote a new more concise and documented version. It's easier to follow and extend, and has some functions to help with encoding/decoding characters. We're considering adopting this as the main Python library in the near future. Always interested in input from other developers! https://github.com/ryanmcgrath/pygengo https://github.com/ryanmcgrath/pygengo

aghilmort 15y ago

At least one developer is very upset about Google Translate API change: http://groups.google.com/group/google-ajax-search-api/browse_thread/thread/da649803321d338d?hl=en http://groups.google.com/group/google-ajax-search-api/browse...

icco 15y ago

Wow, this sucks. One of the reasons I historically haven't been worried about Google and some of the "evils" that people argue they are guilty of, is because they provide awesome APIs for developers free of charge and with next to no rate-limiting or authentication. This is a slippery slope for Google. Why should I build applications on top of their products, if I know that the API can be ripped out from under me?

tybris 15y ago

Darnit Google. Can't you keep any API running for more than 2 years? Just take a hint from AWS and sell them!

gmosx 15y ago

Recent developments in the 'Google Platform' front (new App Engine price structure, API shutdowns, crippled Google Apps Standard offering, etc) severely dented my belief on a "full cloud" future. Perhaps we shouldn't outsource (== depend) too much to cloud vendors.