Quickstart: Azure AI Translator REST APIs

Try the latest version of Azure AI Translator. In this quickstart, get started using the Translator service to translate text using a programming language of your choice or the REST API. For this project, we recommend using the free pricing tier (F0), while you're learning the technology, and later upgrading to a paid tier for production.

Prerequisites

You need an active Azure subscription. If you don't have an Azure subscription, you can create one for trial

  • Once you have your Azure subscription, create a Translator resource in the Azure portal.

  • After your resource deploys, select Go to resource and retrieve your key and endpoint.

    • You need the key and endpoint from the resource to connect your application to the Translator service. You paste your key and endpoint into the code later in the quickstart. You can find these values on the Azure portal Keys and Endpoint page:

      Screenshot: Azure portal keys and endpoint page.

      Note

      • For this quickstart it is recommended that you use a Translator text single-service global resource.
      • With a single-service global resource you'll include one authorization header (Ocp-Apim-Subscription-key) with the REST API request. The value for Ocp-Apim-Subscription-key is your Azure secret key for your Translator Text subscription.
      • If you choose to use an Azure AI multi-service or regional Translator resource, two authentication headers will be required: (Ocp-Api-Subscription-Key and Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Region). The value for Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Region is the region associated with your subscription.
      • For more information on how to use the Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Region header, see Text Translation REST API headers.

Headers

To call the Translator service via the REST API, you need to include the following headers with each request. Don't worry, we include the headers for you in the sample code for each programming language.

For more information on Translator authentication options, see the Translator v3 reference guide.

Header Value Condition
Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key Your Translator service key from the Azure portal. Required
Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Region The region where your resource was created. Required when using an Azure AI multi-service or regional (geographic) resource like China North.
Optional when using a single-service global Translator Resource.
Content-Type The content type of the payload. The accepted value is application/json or charset=UTF-8. Required
Content-Length The length of the request body. Optional

Important

Remember to remove the key from your code when you're done, and never post it publicly. For production, use a secure way of storing and accessing your credentials like Azure Key Vault. For more information, see the Azure AI services security article.

Translate text

The core operation of the Translator service is translating text. In this quickstart, you build a request using a programming language of your choice that takes a single source (from) and provides two outputs (to). Then we review some parameters that can be used to adjust both the request and the response.

For detailed information regarding Azure AI Translator service request limits, see Text translation request limits.

Set up your Python project

  1. Make sure the latest version of Python 3.x is installed. The Python installer package (pip) is included with the Python installation.

    Tip

    If you're new to Python, try the Introduction to Python Learn module.

  2. Open a terminal window and use pip to install the Requests library and uuid0 package:

       pip install requests uuid
    

    Note

    We will also use a Python built-in package called json. It's used to work with JSON data.

Build your Python application

  1. Create a new Python file called translator-app.py in your preferred editor or IDE.

  2. Add the following code sample to your translator-app.py file. Make sure you update the key with one of the values from your Azure portal Translator instance.

import requests, uuid, json

# Add your key and endpoint
key = "<your-translator-key>"
endpoint = "https://api.translator.azure.cn"

# location, also known as region.
# required if you're using a multi-service or regional (not global) resource. It can be found in the Azure portal on the Keys and Endpoint page.
location = "<YOUR-RESOURCE-LOCATION>"

path = '/translate'
constructed_url = endpoint + path

params = {
    'api-version': '3.0',
    'from': 'en',
    'to': ['fr', 'zu']
}

headers = {
    'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key': key,
    # location required if you're using a multi-service or regional (not global) resource.
    'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Region': location,
    'Content-type': 'application/json',
    'X-ClientTraceId': str(uuid.uuid4())
}

# You can pass more than one object in body.
body = [{
    'text': 'I would really like to drive your car around the block a few times!'
}]

request = requests.post(constructed_url, params=params, headers=headers, json=body)
response = request.json()

print(json.dumps(response, sort_keys=True, ensure_ascii=False, indent=4, separators=(',', ': ')))

Run your Python application

Once you add a code sample to your application, build and run your program:

  1. Navigate to your translator-app.py file.

  2. Type the following command in your console:

    python translator-app.py
    

Translation output:

After a successful call, you should see the following response:

[
  {
    "translations": [
      {
        "text": "J'aimerais vraiment conduire votre voiture autour du pâté de maisons plusieurs fois!",
        "to": "fr"
      },
      {
        "text": "Ngingathanda ngempela ukushayela imoto yakho endaweni evimbelayo izikhathi ezimbalwa!",
        "to": "zu"
      }
    ]
  }
]

Next steps

That's it, congratulations! You just learned to use the Translator service to translate text.

Explore our how-to documentation and take a deeper dive into Translation service capabilities: