Search code examples
azurebingmicrosoft-translator

The result from Microsoft Translator Text API and Bing Translation are different

I am using Microsoft Translator Text API Cognitive Service in one of my own RESTful services and I noticed the following behavior - in some languages (like German (DE)) the response from Translator Text API is quite different from the one in Bing Translate. For example:

  1. "was gehts" in German is translated to "what you doing" in English by Microsoft Translator Text API. The same ("was gehts") gets translated in English to "What's Up" by Bing Translation
  2. "was geht:)" in German is translated to "as regards :)" in English by Microsoft Translator Text API. The same ("was geht:)") gets translated in English to "What's up:)" by Bing Translation
  3. "отиде коня в реката" in Bulgarian is translated to "go horses in the river" in English by Microsoft Translator Text API. The same gets translated in English to "Gone horse in the river" by Bing Translation
  4. "отиде коня в реката:)" in Bulgarian is translated to "He went into the river horse:)" by Microsoft Translator Text API. The same gets translated in English to "Gone horse in the river:)" by Bing Translation.

Is this expected behavior? Is there a way to achieve similar results to Bing Translation using Microsoft Translator Text API by processing in some way the string we are passing to Microsoft Translator Text API (because it seems the ":)" is quite confusing to Microsoft Translator Text API)?

Solution

  • Bing is now by default on NN for all of the supported languages. The API is still SMT unless you use the general NN category. So (with the exception of Chinese and Hindi) you need to specify category=generalnn to get NN while using the API. Best regards, Gwenda Microsoft Translator Team