Azure AI Text Translation SDK for Python

Client library for Azure AI Translator text translation service for real-time text translation, transliteration, and language operations.

Installation

bash
pip install azure-ai-translation-text

Environment Variables

bash
AZURE_TRANSLATOR_KEY=<your-api-key>
AZURE_TRANSLATOR_REGION=<your-region>  # e.g., eastus, westus2
# Or use custom endpoint
AZURE_TRANSLATOR_ENDPOINT=https://<resource>.cognitiveservices.azure.com

Authentication

API Key with Region

python
import os
from azure.ai.translation.text import TextTranslationClient
from azure.core.credentials import AzureKeyCredential

key = os.environ["AZURE_TRANSLATOR_KEY"]
region = os.environ["AZURE_TRANSLATOR_REGION"]

# Create credential with region
credential = AzureKeyCredential(key)
client = TextTranslationClient(credential=credential, region=region)

API Key with Custom Endpoint

python
endpoint = os.environ["AZURE_TRANSLATOR_ENDPOINT"]

client = TextTranslationClient(
    credential=AzureKeyCredential(key),
    endpoint=endpoint
)

Entra ID (Recommended)

python
from azure.ai.translation.text import TextTranslationClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

client = TextTranslationClient(
    credential=DefaultAzureCredential(),
    endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_TRANSLATOR_ENDPOINT"]
)

Basic Translation

python
# Translate to a single language
result = client.translate(
    body=["Hello, how are you?", "Welcome to Azure!"],
    to=["es"]  # Spanish
)

for item in result:
    for translation in item.translations:
        print(f"Translated: {translation.text}")
        print(f"Target language: {translation.to}")

Translate to Multiple Languages

python
result = client.translate(
    body=["Hello, world!"],
    to=["es", "fr", "de", "ja"]  # Spanish, French, German, Japanese
)

for item in result:
    print(f"Source: {item.detected_language.language if item.detected_language else 'unknown'}")
    for translation in item.translations:
        print(f"  {translation.to}: {translation.text}")

Specify Source Language

python
result = client.translate(
    body=["Bonjour le monde"],
    from_parameter="fr",  # Source is French
    to=["en", "es"]
)

Language Detection

python
result = client.translate(
    body=["Hola, como estas?"],
    to=["en"]
)

for item in result:
    if item.detected_language:
        print(f"Detected language: {item.detected_language.language}")
        print(f"Confidence: {item.detected_language.score:.2f}")

Transliteration

Convert text from one script to another:

python
result = client.transliterate(
    body=["konnichiwa"],
    language="ja",
    from_script="Latn",  # From Latin script
    to_script="Jpan"      # To Japanese script
)

for item in result:
    print(f"Transliterated: {item.text}")
    print(f"Script: {item.script}")

Dictionary Lookup

Find alternate translations and definitions:

python
result = client.lookup_dictionary_entries(
    body=["fly"],
    from_parameter="en",
    to="es"
)

for item in result:
    print(f"Source: {item.normalized_source} ({item.display_source})")
    for translation in item.translations:
        print(f"  Translation: {translation.normalized_target}")
        print(f"  Part of speech: {translation.pos_tag}")
        print(f"  Confidence: {translation.confidence:.2f}")

Dictionary Examples

Get usage examples for translations:

python
from azure.ai.translation.text.models import DictionaryExampleTextItem

result = client.lookup_dictionary_examples(
    body=[DictionaryExampleTextItem(text="fly", translation="volar")],
    from_parameter="en",
    to="es"
)

for item in result:
    for example in item.examples:
        print(f"Source: {example.source_prefix}{example.source_term}{example.source_suffix}")
        print(f"Target: {example.target_prefix}{example.target_term}{example.target_suffix}")

Get Supported Languages

python
# Get all supported languages
languages = client.get_supported_languages()

# Translation languages
print("Translation languages:")
for code, lang in languages.translation.items():
    print(f"  {code}: {lang.name} ({lang.native_name})")

# Transliteration languages
print("\nTransliteration languages:")
for code, lang in languages.transliteration.items():
    print(f"  {code}: {lang.name}")
    for script in lang.scripts:
        print(f"    {script.code} -> {[t.code for t in script.to_scripts]}")

# Dictionary languages
print("\nDictionary languages:")
for code, lang in languages.dictionary.items():
    print(f"  {code}: {lang.name}")

Break Sentence

Identify sentence boundaries:

python
result = client.find_sentence_boundaries(
    body=["Hello! How are you? I hope you are well."],
    language="en"
)

for item in result:
    print(f"Sentence lengths: {item.sent_len}")

Translation Options

python
result = client.translate(
    body=["Hello, world!"],
    to=["de"],
    text_type="html",           # "plain" or "html"
    profanity_action="Marked",  # "NoAction", "Deleted", "Marked"
    profanity_marker="Asterisk", # "Asterisk", "Tag"
    include_alignment=True,      # Include word alignment
    include_sentence_length=True # Include sentence boundaries
)

for item in result:
    translation = item.translations[0]
    print(f"Translated: {translation.text}")
    if translation.alignment:
        print(f"Alignment: {translation.alignment.proj}")
    if translation.sent_len:
        print(f"Sentence lengths: {translation.sent_len.src_sent_len}")

Async Client

python
from azure.ai.translation.text.aio import TextTranslationClient
from azure.core.credentials import AzureKeyCredential

async def translate_text():
    async with TextTranslationClient(
        credential=AzureKeyCredential(key),
        region=region
    ) as client:
        result = await client.translate(
            body=["Hello, world!"],
            to=["es"]
        )
        print(result[0].translations[0].text)

Client Methods

| Method | Description | |--------|-------------| | translate | Translate text to one or more languages | | transliterate | Convert text between scripts | | detect | Detect language of text | | find_sentence_boundaries | Identify sentence boundaries | | lookup_dictionary_entries | Dictionary lookup for translations | | lookup_dictionary_examples | Get usage examples | | get_supported_languages | List supported languages |

Best Practices

1. Batch translations — Send multiple texts in one request (up to 100)
2. Specify source language when known to improve accuracy
3. Use async client for high-throughput scenarios
4. Cache language list — Supported languages don't change frequently
5. Handle profanity appropriately for your application
6. Use html text_type when translating HTML content
7. Include alignment for applications needing word mapping

When to Use

This skill is applicable to execute the workflow or actions described in the overview.

Limitations

• Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
• Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
• Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.