Is there a limit on TextBlob translation?

python google-translate textblob
kiran picture kiran · Mar 21, 2014 · Viewed 7.4k times · Source

I have been using TextBlob, a package for Python (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/textblob) for translating articles to different language .

After reading their docs, I got to know that TextBlob makes use of Google Translate. Since google translate is not a free service, I wanted to know whether there is any usage limit on translating articles using TextBlob services?

Answer

Nik Barres picture Nik Barres · Nov 10, 2014

Google states on their pricing page for the Google Translate API that you need to set up billing in order to be able to utilize the translate API. In other words, there isn't a free usage tier.

Important: Google Translate API v2 requires billing information for all accounts before you can start using the service.

This text is available on https://cloud.google.com/translate/v2/pricing.

So, you shouldn't be able to use the translate API at all unless you have an account set up.

The Google documentation lists https://www.googleapis.com/language/translate/v2 as the API endpoint. Having a look around the source code for TextBlob, I couldn't find that endpoint mentioned anywhere. Instead, TextBlob seems to be using http://translate.google.com/translate_a/t, and that URL isn't mentioned anywhere in Google's API documentation. It seems like TextBlob isn't using the Google Translate API at all. Instead, its forging headers and claiming to be a browser.

This is the module which TextBlob adapted its translation feature from, which states No key, no authentication whatsoever in its description.

So I guess there isn't any usage limit on translating articles using TextBlob, since its not using the API.

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