Google Translate isn't the only option if you are looking for an API to add custom translation to your web site. Bing Translate has just added two new languages and comes with a sophisticated API in three flavors - SOAP, REST and AJAX.

When you think of translation for use on your web site you probably think - Google Translate. It's clear we do as I Programmer's translate button (top of the right hand column) is a Google widget. However Bing for one has been offering a similar service for a while and it has just announced Ukrainian, Vietnamese and Indonesian as translation options making a total of 35 supported languages.

As well as being able to translate a web page or block of pasted text Bing Translator offers the same service as part of Office. That is, if you install the Language Interface Pack  you can translate any document between any of the 35 languages.  Users of IE can also install an add-on that they can use to translate any web page.

Finally there is the Translator widget and a complete API in either SOAP, REST or Ajax. The API seems to have many features that make it more flexible than alternatives that begin with "G" and it supports text-to-speech built in.

Look out for an article on using the Bing API on IProgrammer in the very near future and a comparison with Google Translate.

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