1. A method, comprising: receiving, at a translation module executing at a server computer, a request from an application to execute a query against a database, wherein the request comprises a first data element of a first data type as part of the query; identifying, at the translation module, a binding between the first data element and an attribute of the database, wherein the binding associates the first data type of the first data element with a second data type of the attribute of the database; translating, by the translation module, the first data element from the first data type into a second data element of the second data type, wherein the first data element comprises a value represented in the first data type and the second data element comprises the value represented in the second data type; generating, by the translation module, the query using the second data element; sending, by the translation module, the query to a database server to be executed; receiving, by the translation module, a query response from the database server, the query response comprising a third data element of the second data type; translating, by the translation module, the third data element from the second data type into a fourth data element of the first data type; and transmitting, by the translation module, the fourth data element to the application in response to the request.