Understanding how a user's language is set and detected

Set a user's language by default or let them choose it in their profile. Detect language for unregistered or logged-out users via email, Help Center, or Web Widget. Agents can update language settings manually or through business rules. Use language settings in business rules to manage ticket routing and dynamic content effectively.




A user's language is set as the account's default language when the user is created, but users
can set their preferred language in their profile. If a user does not have
an account or is not logged in, their language can be detected in several
ways.
This article contains the following sections:


How a user's
language is set
How a user's
language is detected


Related article:
Using an end user's
language in business rules




How a user's language is set

When a user is created in Zendesk, the user's language is set to the default language
for your account.
A user's preferred language can be set in the following ways:


Agents and end users can set their own language in their
profile. See Viewing and editing
your user profile.
Agents with user management permission can set a user's
language in the user's profile. See Viewing an end
user's profile.
A business rule can set a user's language using the
Set requester's language action. See Setting a user's
language preference with an automation or
trigger.



For end users, the list of available languages is the same as the languages you selected to
support. If the end user's language is not supported,
they can't select it. Agents always see the complete list of supported
languages for the Support UI, regardless of your
account's language settings.
If language is present, this setting can be used in your business rules
to, for example, determine which dynamic content language variant is
used or to route tickets to specific groups or agents. See Using an end user’s language
in business rules.



How a user's language is detected

For unregistered end users (those who do not yet have an account), or
registered users who are not logged in, the language can be detected
in several ways:



Email: The language used in an end user's email
support request is automatically detected. See Detecting an end user's
language from an email message.

Help center (if you have enabled your languages in your
help center): When an unregistered end user
has selected a language in the help center, the
support request submit form, like the rest of the
help center, is set to that language. Then, when the
end user submits a support request, the language is
identified, and their profile is flagged with the
language.

Web Widget: Zendesk can detect a user's preferred
language from their web browser's preference setting.
The accept-language header in the HTTP request contains information about the user's language
preference. If that is present, the language can be
detected.

The auto-detection mechanism is performed on unregistered users
only. If the user profile language was previously set, it can be
updated manually by an agent, the end user, or automatically with an
API call. If the user is created through the Zendesk Support agent
interface or an API call (which doesn't set user language), the
default system language will be used.
Ticket attributes from system fields are automatically translated into
the detected language. If you want the attributes to be
displayed in your default language, you can use dynamic content.