Takethe5th is now available in 25 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, Hebrew, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portugese, Spanish, Swedish, Welsh and Yiddish among others. And I say among others because Google has added two new languages in the past few weeks.
So you can enjoy a touch of excellence in your native tongue – and if the translation is a bit shaky readers can see the original English by just hovering over the paragraph with their mouse and the original English pops up as shown in the screen shot. Please enjoy responsibly!
The second reason that I mention this bit of Google Free Goodness is because this is a)ridiculously easy to program [ just go to Google Code to see how easy it is] to add translations to your website and b)the cost is zero, nada, rien, nicht. But the third and most important reason is because Google is working triple overtime this year to establish an ever-expanding number of “free” Google APIs as the defacto standards for the Web. In effect, Google is trying to make its APIs as essential as the Microsoft Windows APIs are to programmers and developers[a 95% desktop PC OS monopoly certainly makes the Windows API a defacto standard for most programmers]. Lets take a quick look at some of the Google APIs and how well they are doing at becoming defacto standards:
Google Search API – is used on many websites as default search engine; however many popular blogs/CMS systems like Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress have their own search engines – mixed results.
Google Adsense API – is used as the dominant Web ad source. I have seen Google Adsense ads appear on sites as diverse as the NYTimes and The Atlantic.
Google Ajax APIs – sets the ground work for using other Google APIs, gaining in popularity.
Google Maps API – this is the competitive advantage API for the new Android smartphones and many retial outlets. Google Maps are pervasive.
Google Gears API – ability to work offline on web pages is starting to sneak up in importance; but it is called a Labs project.
Google Wave API – ability to chat online dynamically is still a technology hurdle, even for Google.
And there are 50 more! In short, trying to keep up with all the new and/or improved Google APIs has become a major task. Google still does not have the “must-have” pervasiveness of the Windows APIs; but like Google’s new Go programming language, Google’s APIs certainly have programmers attention.