PHP translate function using google

When you write those multiple language websites you have to make sure everything can be translated. Even the user interface. And this is most of the time something we overlook or you use icons instead.

In this tutorial I show you a nice translation function. And if you do not know any translation for that specific word. It will look it up on Google translate!

What can you do with it?

Well in the end you will be able to write code like this.

echo TL::T("Hello");

Depending on the current language it will print Hello World in that specific language.

Practical example?

Form validation. When you print errors to the user interface it is just more easy to use this function.

If ($name == "") {
echo TL::T("Please fill in your name");
}

How will it work?

We create a database table that can contain translations for specific languages.

When you call the TL::T function it will lookup the parsed text in the databases English translation. (If you program in another language you can change this of course but just make sure you always parse to TL::T in the same language)

When it did not found a English translation it will create a record for it.

If the current language is not English and it did found a record with the English translation it will check if there is a translation in the same record for the current language. If that is not the case it will translate the English word to the specified language through Google translate.

Why not always' Google translate?

Because Google translate is not fail proof. Sometimes it will give strange translations. Especially when you try to translate full sentences. But instead there is a strange language message in your interface it gives you an almost correct translation. If you find a better translation you can put that into your database and boom. You will get this translation instead of Google's.

Step 1: building the database:

First of all you need a database table to store all translations.
In this example lets create 4 languages.

English = en, French = fr, German = de and Dutch = nl

Name your fields en, fr, de and nl.

call your table tbltrans.

Step 2: building the TL static class:

Why do we call this class TL? Well it is short. you can call it TRANSLATE and then use a function like WORD so you have to type TRANSLATE::WORD() all the times. So no. we want to code quickly and call it TL.

class TL
{

#SETTINGS

public static function SS($setting, $value)

{

$_SESSION[$setting] = $value;

}

public static function GS($setting)

{

if (!isset($_SESSION[$setting]))

return false;

else

return $_SESSION[$setting];

}

#END SETTINGS

}

Notice that these static functions are shorthands to get $_SESSION vars. And if it is not set it will return false.

Usage:

TL::SS('LANG', 'nl'); Will set our LANG session var to nl.

We will use this LANG session as our current language identifier.

Step 3: our Google translate function

Add this function to the TL class.

public static function GoogleT($from_lang, $to_lang, $text)

{

$json = json_decode(file_get_contents('https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/language/translate?v=1.0&q=' . urlencode($text) . '&langpair=' . $from_lang . '|' . $to_lang));

$translated_text = utf8_decode($json->responseData->translatedText);

return $translated_text;

}

If you do echo TL::GoogleT("en", "nl", "Hello"); you get Hallo.

We will use this function in the next step.

Step 4: The T function

Why do you call it T? Same here. It is short.

function T($string)

{

$db = #create your database connection here!!!

#execute the search query. You use TL::GS("LANG') to select only the field of the language you want.

$res = mysql_query("select ".TL::GS('LANG')." as trans from tbltrans where en='".$string."'");

#check if there is a record or not.

if (mysql_num_rows($res) < 1)

{

#IF not create the record.

mysql_query("insert into tbltrans (en) VALUES ('".$string."')");

#Translate the text through Google becouse there will be no translation found.

$string = TL::GoogleT('en', TL::GS('LANG'), $string);

}

else

{

#fetch the record

$rec = mysql_fetch_assoc($res);

#check if the language field you wanted is empty or not.

if ($rec['trans'] != "")

$string = $rec['trans'];

else

$string = TL::GoogleT('en', TL::GS('LANG'), $string); #If the field is empty use google again

}

return $string; #return the result.

}

Final.

Now simply include this class into your projects.

Do TL::SS('LANG', );

And then all you have to write is TL::T("Translate me"); for each word or sentence you want to translate.

Have Fun using it!

20-06-2011

PHP translate function using google

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