If you’ve been used to translating walls of text using Google Translate, you might be disappointed to learn that you will now have to work in batches. As pointed out by Google Operating System, it seems that Translate has gotten a new character limit of 5,000 characters in total.
As you can see in the screenshot above, there is a small counter at the bottom right corner of the text box that counts down the characters as you type them. This means that, per translation, 5,000 characters is all we allow.
The limit seems to be linked to a fear that people will abuse the system by translating long documents. What’s most important is that it should still function normally despite there being a limit in place.
Google Translate API is limited to 5,000 characters. However, this doesn’t seem to apply to more than 5,000 characters since websites might contain that much information. Hence Google Translate API’s limitation and the site with more than 5000 characters is something you should be looking into.
Also the translation card from Google Search is also limited to 2,799 characters.
Translation is much slower now on Google Translate app and you’re left with this odd workaround. I don’t know what the reasoning for this UX change is but it’s something to keep in mind for those who work with larger translation jobs.
One reply on “Google Translate Now Has a 5000 Character Limit”
The reason why Google Translate has put this limit is because it helps the tool work more effectively. When you translate a large amount of text at one time, it can be harder for the tool to accurately translate each word and sentence. This can result in errors and mistranslations.