Configuring your help center to support multiple languages

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">You must enable all of the languages that you want to support in your help center. For each language you enable, you can add a translated help center name as well as translated snippets of text. Your help center languages are independent of any languages you haveenabled in Zendesk Support.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-toggle">Summary: <span id="up-triangle">◀</span><span id="down-triangle">▼</span></p>
<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">You can enable multiple help center languages, add translated help center names, and control how users see localized content based on browser language, profile, or URL locale. If you only translate some content, users may see the default language or a page error, so you may need redirects or fallback content. You can also remove languages and update translated names anytime.</p>
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<div class="note attention">
<span class="attentiontitle"></span> If you are not on a Suite plan, you must have Guide Professional or Enterprise
<em class="ph i">and</em> Support Professional or Enterprise for multi-language
support.</div>
<p class="p">You must enable all of the languages that you want to support in your help center.
For each language you enable, you can add a translated help center name as well as
translated snippets of text. Your help center languages are independent of any
languages you have <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408888770714" target="_blank">enabled in Zendesk Support</a>. </p>
<p class="p">After you enable languages for your help center, you can <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834328090" target="_blank">add localized help center content</a>) so that end users
can choose the language they want in your help center.</p>
<p class="p">You must be a Knowledge admin to configure help center languages.</p>
<div class="p">This article covers the following topics:<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_ulq_yxh_tz">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ys2_kxh_tz">Enabling languages for your help center</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#trans_content">Understanding how translated content is displayed in your help center</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_d51_tjy_vgb">Removing a help center language</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ud5_kxh_tz">Changing a translated help center name</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="p">Related article:<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_hgf_cb4_p2b">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822162330" target="_blank">Configuring the default language
for your help center</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ys2_kxh_tz">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Enabling languages for your help center</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can enable any help center languages you plan to support. </p>
<div class="p">You can choose from any of the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821324826#Default_languages" target="_blank">help center supported languages</a>
and most of the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821324826#HC" target="_blank">languages that are available by
request</a>. If you choose a supported language, text that appears
in the help center by default (for example, "search" and "comments"), is
displayed in that language. If you choose a language that is not supported,
default text appears in that language only if there are crowd-sourced
translations. <div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> If you are not planning to translate all your articles
into a chosen language, make sure your content will be displayed
correctly to all users, see <a class="xref" href="#trans_content">Understanding how translated content is displayed in your help center</a>.</div>
</div>
<p class="p">You need to set up your knowledge base to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834328090" target="_blank">deliver content in your supported languages</a>
for your enabled languages.</p>
<p class="p">Your help center languages are enabled independently of any languages you have
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408888770714" target="_blank">enabled in Zendesk Support</a>. When users view
the Submit a request form, standard fields are displayed in the language
selected in the help center. Custom fields that don't have translations for
that language are displayed in the default language of your Support
account.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To enable a language in your help center</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_ys2_kxh_tz__ol_vq2_vlg_p3">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_b5q_nwn_s2c" target="_blank">Knowledge admin</a>, click <strong class="ph b">Settings</strong> (<img class="image" id="topic_ys2_kxh_tz__d8e85" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide_icon_settings.png">) in the sidebar.</span></li>
<li class="li">Select <strong class="ph b">Language settings</strong>, then click <strong class="ph b">Add new
language</strong>.<p class="p">You can scroll or search the list. You can
choose from any of the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821324826#Default_languages" target="_blank">help center supported
languages</a> and most of the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821324826#HC" target="_blank">languages that are
available by request</a>, some of which have
crowd-sourced translations.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">Language</strong> drop-down to select a language, then enter a
<strong class="ph b">Help Center name</strong> for the language.<p class="p">The help center name
might be the translated name of your default help center
name.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_ys2_kxh_tz__image_jmm_yfy_vgb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/language_add_new.png" width="300"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Add language</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Add new language</strong> again if you want to add more
languages.<p class="p">A list of all your enabled languages appears on the
help center <strong class="ph b">Language</strong> page. If you've enabled multiple
languages, the Help Center name should be the name of the search
source.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_ys2_kxh_tz__image_mrf_khy_vgb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/languages_list.png" width="500"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong> on the help center <strong class="ph b">Language</strong> page when you are
finished.<p class="p">Next, you need to set up your knowledge base to
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834328090" target="_blank">deliver content in your supported
languages</a>, if you haven't already done so.
</p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="trans_content">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Understanding how translated content is displayed in your help center</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The difference between having a language enabled and having translated content
available for that language has implications on what a user sees in a help
center. For example, the default language for a help center might be set to
US English (en-us). The help center might also provide translated content in
French (fr). </p>
<p class="p">The
language that a user sees in your help center is based on defaulting to the
following, in order of preference: </p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="trans_content__ul_ftz_bhz_5pb">
<li class="li">The language specified in the URL of the page the user is
currently on (if present)</li>
<li class="li">The language set for the user's current active session</li>
<li class="li">The language preference set in the user's user profile</li>
<li class="li">The preferred language of the user's browser</li>
<li class="li">Other compatible languages specified by the user's browser</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">If the help center is unable to match any of these languages, then the user is
directed to the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822162330" target="_blank">default language of
your help center</a>.</p>
<p class="p">These examples explain some different scenarios.</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="trans_content__ul_ebl_xgz_5pb">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Scenario 1</strong> - The user's browser language is a language that
is not enabled in the help center. The user sees the article in
the default language. <p class="p">That is, a user with Polish (pl) set as
their default browser language accesses this link: <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/pl" target="_blank">https://support.zendesk.com/hc/pl</a>. The site is not
translated into Polish so they are redirected to the
default language site (<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us" target="_blank">support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us</a>), and will see
the content in English.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Scenario 2</strong> - The user's browser language is a language that
is enabled in the help center, and there is translated content
in that language available for that article. The user
automatically sees the translated content.<p class="p">That is, if a
user's default browser language is French, they see all
articles that have been translated into French, even if
the user has not specified the locale (fr) in the URL. If
they access the link <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc" target="_blank">https://support.zendesk.com/hc</a>, they are automatically
redirected to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/fr" target="_blank">https://support.zendesk.com/hc/fr</a>.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Scenario 3</strong> - The user's browser language is a language that
is enabled in the help center, but there is no translated
content in that language available for that article. The article
will not show up in the browser language's version of the help
center. If the user tries to navigate manually to that article,
in a language that it has not been translated into, then the
user sees a page error, or is redirected to the home page for
that language. <p class="p">For example, a user with French set as their
default browser language sees all articles that have been
translated into French, but if any articles are not
translated, they get a message that the page does not
exist. This is because the fr locale has been set up, but
is not populated for every article.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">In all examples, if a user wants to manually change the language that they view
an article in, then they must specify a different locale in the URL or
change the language in the help center language drop-down menu. If the
language is enabled in the help center, and has translated content available
for that article, they'll see that content. </p>
<p class="p">For example, if you type the URL <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/de" target="_blank">https://support.zendesk.com/hc/de</a>, you'll see German content for that
page, regardless of your default browser language. Specifying a locale in
the URL does not change the language in which you are browsing the help
center. To browse the help center in a different language, you must use the
language drop-down menu.</p>
<p class="p">If you provide only some of your content in other languages, consider one of
the following solutions:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="trans_content__ul_gbx_2vf_k4b">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886627866-Redirecting-traffic-from-deleted-Help-Center-articles#untranslated" target="_blank"> Redirect untranslated
articles to an existing language</a></li>
<li class="li">Add a default language version of the article to the translation
page. In our example, this would mean copying the English
article into the French translation page. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834328090" target="_blank">delivering content in your supported
languages</a>. </li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_d51_tjy_vgb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Removing a help center language</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can disable any language you have enabled in your help center by deleting
it in the help center Languages page. When you delete a language, help
center articles in the deleted language are unpublished, but remain in Guide
admin. If you add the language back in, the related content will be
republished.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To set up your help center for multiple languages</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_d51_tjy_vgb__ol_ahj_zjy_vgb">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_b5q_nwn_s2c" target="_blank">Knowledge admin</a>, click <strong class="ph b">Settings</strong> (<img class="image" id="topic_d51_tjy_vgb__d8e85" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide_icon_settings.png">) in the sidebar.</span></li>
<li class="li">Select <strong class="ph b">Language settings</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click the options menu beside the language you want to remove, then
click <strong class="ph b">Delete</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_d51_tjy_vgb__image_h5k_wky_vgb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/languages_options_menu.png" width="500"></p>
<p class="p">The language is
removed from your list of languages, without a confirmation
dialog. You can enable it again if necessary by clicking <strong class="ph b">Add
new language</strong>.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong> on the help center <strong class="ph b">Language</strong> page when you are
finished.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ud5_kxh_tz">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Changing a translated help center name</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can add a translated help center name when you enable a language. You can
easily change the help center name for a language at any time.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To change a translated help center name</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_ud5_kxh_tz__ol_vq2_vlg_p3">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041943683354#topic_b5q_nwn_s2c" target="_blank">Knowledge admin</a>, click <strong class="ph b">Settings</strong> (<img class="image" id="topic_ud5_kxh_tz__d8e85" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide_icon_settings.png">) in the sidebar.</span></li>
<li class="li">Select <strong class="ph b">Language settings</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click in the name field for any language, then enter a new name.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_ud5_kxh_tz__image_ayj_rjy_vgb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/languages_list.png" width="500"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong> on the help center <strong class="ph b">Language</strong> page when you are
finished.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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