Finally! Google Translate gets API-ed. I was glad to see a "detect" method provided - meaning you tell what language a piece of text is in. Weird that the actual Google Translate service still doesn't use it to improve their form defaults.

So I gave my old "Tryanslator" (try and translate) an update, and a new home:
Tryanslator v2

Few notes

  • No asking of "Translate From?" - if you don't know how to read it, you probably don't know what it is written in.
  • Language to "Translate to" defaults to user's browser language.
  • Language options are written in their own language (duh).
  • Google provides a rigid list of "translation pair" (i.e. English to Chinese, but not Chinese to Spanish). Tryanslator2 does an extra bounce to Google's server, using English as the mid-way to obtain a any-to-any translation.
  • No submit button, just type and wait.
  • All important text on the page auto-translate themselves to the reader's language, including "Please wait..." :-)

Give it a try!