Cloud Translation release notes

This page documents production updates to Cloud Translation. We recommend that Cloud Translation developers periodically check this list for any new announcements. Major changes are also announced via the google-translate-api mailing list.

You can see the latest product updates for all of Google Cloud on the Google Cloud page, browse and filter all release notes in the Google Cloud console, or programmatically access release notes in BigQuery.

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March 12, 2024

For AutoML datasets, you can tag segment pairs when importing them through the Google Cloud console.

You can request document translations with multi-regional endpoints.

February 14, 2024

Adaptive translation is Generally Available and adds Portuguese support, raises the limit for input and output characters, and decreases latency in the API and console.

December 12, 2023

Adaptive translation, which leverages Google LLMs to tailor translations, is in Preview

May 19, 2023

April 07, 2023

Creating and managing datasets and custom models is now supported by the Cloud Translation API. All future custom model enhancements will be applied to the Cloud Translation API instead of the AutoML API, which will continue to be maintained.

You can upgrade your existing AutoML resources to use the Cloud Translation API and the Cloud Console without any additional costs. To work with upgraded resources, API users must update existing AutoML API calls to use the Cloud Translation API. For more information, see Upgrade AutoML resources.

March 30, 2023

Added new fields to the document translation methods to handle translation and parsing issues:

  • Shadow text removal for overlapping text (for native PDFs).
  • Auto rotate document to the correct orientation (for scanned PDFs).

February 28, 2023

For document translations, added support for Microsoft DOC, PPT, and XLS files. For more information, see Supported formats.

February 15, 2023

Glossaries are now supported for the recently added 24 languages.

  • Assamese
  • Aymara
  • Bambara
  • Bhojpuri
  • Dhivehi
  • Dogri
  • Ewe
  • Guarani
  • Ilocano
  • Konkani
  • Krio
  • Kurdish(Sorani)
  • Lingala
  • Luganda
  • Maithili
  • Meiteilon(Manipuri)
  • Mizo
  • Oromo
  • Quechua
  • Sanskrit
  • Sepedi(Pedi)
  • Tigrinya
  • Tsonga
  • Twi (Akan)

November 15, 2022

For online document translations, you can increase the page limit for native PDF documents to 300 pages.

September 27, 2022

Support for 24 new languages is Generally Available (GA). Glossaries aren't supported when translating to or from these languages.

  • Assamese
  • Aymara
  • Bambara
  • Bhojpuri
  • Dhivehi
  • Dogri
  • Ewe
  • Guarani
  • Ilocano
  • Konkani
  • Krio
  • Kurdish(Sorani)
  • Lingala
  • Luganda
  • Maithili
  • Meiteilon(Manipuri)
  • Mizo
  • Oromo
  • Quechua
  • Sanskrit
  • Sepedi(Pedi)
  • Tigrinya
  • Tsonga
  • Twi (Akan)

August 31, 2022

Cloud Translation - Advanced (v3) support for a multi-regional US endpoint is now Generally Available (GA).

August 17, 2022

For Cloud Translation - Advanced (v3) glossaries, you can now manage glossary entries. This feature is Generally Available (GA).

January 28, 2022

Cloud Translation - Advanced (v3) support for a multi-regional EU endpoint is now Generally Available (GA).

November 01, 2021

Document Translation for Cloud Translation - Advanced (v3) is now Generally Available (GA) and includes the following enhancements:

  • Right to left language support for PDFs
  • Preserves font size, font color, font style, and hyperlinks for native PDFs only
  • Batch document translation requests support PDF to DOCX conversions for native PDFs only

August 02, 2021

Removed the Phrase-Based Machine Translation (PBMT) model. For requests that specify the PBMT model, Cloud Translation uses the Neural Machine Translation (NMT) model instead.

July 01, 2021

Cloud Translation - Advanced (v3) support for a regional EU endpoint is now in Preview. For more information, see Specify a regional endpoint.

April 26, 2021

Document Translation for Cloud Translation - Advanced (v3) is now available in Preview. Document Translation supports the DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, and PDF file formats. For more information, see Translate documents.

March 23, 2020

The Cloud Translation Advanced API is migrating to a new quota system that eliminates the distinction between default and maximum limits.

This change will roll out gradually, starting on March 30, 2020 and continuing through April 30, 2020. Since quotas define the usage limits for a project or a user, the change could impact your billing.

November 05, 2019

Cloud Translation v3, rebranded as Translation API - Advanced, is now generally available. In addition to the features of Cloud Translation API v3beta1, Translation API - Advanced supports: * User labels * Audit logging * Separate quotas for batch translation and for translation using AutoML models * Client libraries for additional languages PHP, GO, C#, and Ruby

Note: Existing users should pay careful attention to client library versions before updating. Translation API - Basic and Translation API - Advanced client libraries are not backward or forward compatible.

Translation API - Advanced also fixes bugs from the v3beta1 version, notably for the glossary feature.

Translation API - Advanced has a revised pricing structure. Each account receives $10 worth of free usage per month, applied to usage of any of these SKUs:

  • Neural Translation Model Predictions (D90A-CFB2-7CCD)
  • Neural Translation Model Predictions In Translation V3 (E205-31DB-F1F4)
  • Phrase-Based Translation Model Predictions (53BA-5E1D-4314)

This credit replaces the free tier for Text Translation requests using NMT for 0-500k characters on Translation API v3beta1.

April 10, 2019

Cloud Translation API v3beta1 is now available. This release includes support for AutoML models when translating text. In addition, the release includes the following new features:

v3 API offers monthly free tier, and guarded by new Quotas and Limit. Learn more on how to use new features and client library in v3.

September 10, 2018

The maximum values for Characters per 100 seconds quotas have increased. The new maximum for both Characters per 100 seconds per project and Characters per 100 seconds per project per user is 10,000,000 characters. The default quotas remain unchanged.

The recently updated default Characters per day quota has been adjusted again; it is now 1 billion characters.

See Quotas & Limits.

August 22, 2018

The change to the default Characters per day quota has taken effect. It is now unlimited. See Quotas & Limits.

August 01, 2018

On August 15, the default Characters per day quota will be updated to unlimited. For more information, see Quotas & Limits.

November 01, 2017

The maximum Characters per day quota has been updated to unlimited. For more information, see Quotas & Limits.

October 25, 2017

The Neural Machine Translation (NMT) models for the following languages have been updated for improved translation quality:

  • English (en) <-> French (fr)
  • English (en) -> German (de)
  • English (en) -> Spanish (es)

For a list of all NMT supported languages, see Language Support for the Neural Machine Translation Model.

September 26, 2017

Quotas for usage of the Translation API have been updated. The quota for characters requested per 100 seconds, per project has been updated to a maximum of 1,000,000. While the quotas are updated, you may see a brief period where the maximum is not limited to the per project maximum. The quota for characters requested per 100 seconds, per user remains at 100,000 characters per user, per project. For more information, see Quotas & Limits.

September 15, 2017

The Translation API has added support for 70 new languages in the Neural Machine Translation (NMT) model. For a list of all NMT supported languages, see Language Support for the Neural Machine Translation Model.

June 19, 2017

The Translation API no longer supports conditional HTTPS requests. If-Match, If-None-Match, or ETag headers in requests to the Translation API are ignored. The Translation API returns a status code of 200 for successful requests, but does not return a status code of 304 for conditional HTTPS requests. Conditional HTTPS requests are billed as a normal request to the Translation API.

The https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2 endpoint now supports the Neural Machine Translation (NMT) model. However, we recommend that you use the https://translation.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2 endpoint for requests to the Translation API.

April 06, 2017

The Cloud Translation API is no longer taking requests for access to the Premium Edition (Beta). Instead, the premium features of the Cloud Translation API have been made generally available in the Standard Edition.

You now have access to the robust translation features available using the Neural Machine Translation (NMT) model. There is no difference in pricing between the standard, Phrase-Based Machine Translation (PBMT) model, and the NMT model.

By default, when you make a translation request to the Cloud Translation API, your text is translated using the NMT model. If the NMT model is not supported for the requested language translation pair, or if you explicitly request it, the PBMT model is used.

In order for your request to be translated using the NMT model, you must send your request to the current Translation API endpoint: https://translation.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2. The https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2 endpoint does not support the NMT model.

NMT models are computationally intensive and may take more time to translate your query as compared to the same query translated using the PBMT model. If your application is latency sensitive, we recommend that you try both models to determine which best fits your needs for response time.

The model query parameter has been added to the translate method. You can use the model parameter to explicitly specify the translation model for your request. Specify base to use the PBMT model, and nmt to use the NMT model.

If you do not specify a model parameter for your request, then nmt is used.

If you specify the nmt model, and the requested language translation pair is not supported for the NMT model, then the request is translated using the base model.

November 15, 2016

Changed API endpoint from www.googleapis.com to translation.googleapis.com.

API endpoint of www.googleapis.com will continue to work, but migrate code to translation.googleapis.com to take advantage of the latest features.