Multilingual websites now easier

Posted by Dirk Avery at 1:41 pm under Innovation, Internet, Wikinomics.

Google has announced a new AJAX Language API which allows for translation and language detection. Like its other AJAX APIs, Google aims to provide website developers access to its substantial software resources enabling a new generation of web applications.

The number of languages included is impressive with such common languages as English, Spanish and German, but also included are the more difficult such as Traditional Chinese, Russian and Japanese. The list will probably grow as the quality of machine translation increases in each language.

The AJAX API is a client-side tool. This means you include JavaScript on your website amid your HTML and the code is executed in a user’s browser when she requests a web page. JavaScript is really quite simple and Google provides examples practically anyone should be able to understand.

The client side model has potential performance drawbacks since the API and all the information must come from Google’s servers. Being client-side it is also more difficult to get the language results into a database. Those wanting that option have to be clever or sign up for the “Enterprise” service.

Google limits the amount you can use other APIs, including the Google Maps API, and will probably limit the amount of translation you’ll be able to do on a daily basis. For most small to medium size sites, however, the limits will pose no problem.

Google’s terms of use do restrict what you can do with its APIs but I’ve been surprised and impressed with the openness. For instance, you can use the APIs on commercial sites so long as the site is publicly accessible.

Wikinomics authors Tapscott and Williams would definitely approve.

See the API in action! “Only you” in a bunch of languages (you may not be able to see them based on the character sets you have installed).

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