Translating live conversations in the Zendesk Agent Workspace

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Agents can communicate with end users and even if they are using different languages, using automatic live conversation translation in Agent Workspace.

When activated by an admin, agents can manage automatic translation for each live conversation they’re currently serving. For information on turning on automatic translation, see Understanding and activating live conversation translation.

This article includes the following topics:

Turning on automatic translation for a live conversation

Turning off automatic translation in an ongoing live conversation

Switching between the original and translated message text

Turning on automatic translation for a live conversation

When a language difference is detected in an incoming message in the Agent Workspace, a banner appears letting you know the end user’s language.

If the detected language is incorrect, you can use the dropdown to select the correct language for the incoming message.

To automatically translate an incoming conversation

In the translation banner, click Translate. The banner updates to display the translation status:

To decline automatic translation for an incoming conversation

Click the X to dismiss the banner.

If you decline to translate a conversation initially, you can still turn on translation during the conversation.

To turn on translation in an ongoing conversation

In the conversation header, click the Options menu ( ), then click Translate. The translation banner appears, displaying the translation status.

Note: If you translate a message then select another language from the dropdown, you'll need to refresh the page to see the updated translation.

Turning off automatic translation in an ongoing live conversation

You can choose to turn off automatic translation if it is no longer needed – for instance, if a new end user takes over the conversation or if it is passed to another agent who speaks the same language as the end user.

To turn off automatic translation

In the translation banner, click Stop. Or, in the conversation header, click the Options menu ( ), then click Stop translating.

Switching between the original and translated message text

Agents can view an end user’s original untranslated messages, as well as the translated versions of their own messages.

To view an end user’s original message text

At the end of the end user’s message, click Show original. The untranslated version appears.

To view your own translated message text

At the end of the message, click Show translation. The translated version of the message appears.