Understanding conversation translation

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">You can give your agents the power to automatically translate ticket conversations if they so choose. This allows agents to communicate with end users and other agents, even if they are using different languages. This article describes how conversation translation works. To activate conversation translations for your agents, seeTurning on and off AI translations for ticket conversations.</p>
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<p class="p">You can give your agents the power to automatically translate ticket conversations if
they so choose. This allows agents to communicate with end users and other agents, even
if they are using different languages. This article describes how conversation
translation works. To activate conversation translations for your agents, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9837507006106" target="_blank">Turning on and off AI translations for ticket
conversations</a>.</p>
<p class="p">For information about using conversation translation after it is activated, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6327770807450" target="_blank">Translating conversations in the Zendesk Agent
Workspace</a>.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">This article includes the following topics:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_zsw_w3d_3nb__ul_dlz_vtk_hzb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_hdf_y3d_3nb">About conversation translation</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_psw_pdq_zgc">How conversations are translated</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_qgd_rdq_zgc">The end-user experience</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_gtl_z2r_q3c">Translation limitations</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_hdf_y3d_3nb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About conversation translation</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Conversation translation gives agents the option to automatically translate
inbound messages (coming from the end user) and outbound messages (going to the end
user). It works in conversations from all Zendesk channels, except voice. This
includes: </p>
<div class="p" dir="ltr">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_hdf_y3d_3nb__ul_iyg_2jd_3nb">
<li class="li">Zendesk messaging </li>
<li class="li">Live chat</li>
<li class="li">Social channels</li>
<li class="li">Sunshine Conversations channels</li>
<li class="li">Email, web form, or API channels</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">If the agent’s and end user’s languages differ, a translation banner is
displayed informing the agent of the language difference, and they can choose to
enable translation for that conversation.</p>
<p class="p">The following video gives you an overview of how conversation translation works:</p>
<div class="non-responsive"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" class="iframe" controls="controls" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xhJA6wu7USY" width="640"></iframe></div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_psw_pdq_zgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">How conversations are translated</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">An end user’s language is determined based on recent comments and replies they have
sent, then our translation services are used to translate text. The length and
number of the comments and replies can affect the language analysis. There's no
guaranteed length at which the language will always be detected, but longer messages
produce better results.</p>
<p class="p">For agents, conversation translation works based on the language set in the agent’s
Support user profile. For the most accurate results, the language of the text the
agent types should match that profile language. For example, if an agent’s profile
language is set to English, the conversation should be written in English before it
is translated into the end user's language. If the agent enters text in a different
language than the one configured in their profile, translations may be inaccurate or
behave unexpectedly.</p>
<p class="p">If the text scan detects that the agent’s and end user’s languages are different, the
translation banner is displayed. If the text scan can't detect the language (for
example, the message was too short to determine the language), the banner doesn’t
appear.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_psw_pdq_zgc__image_qsw_pdq_zgc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aw_auto_translate_banner.png" width="500"></p>
<p class="p">If you don't see the translation banner, click the ticket options menu, then click
<strong class="ph b">Translate</strong>.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_psw_pdq_zgc__image_rsw_pdq_zgc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_translate_1.png" width="200"></p>
<p class="p">Both the original and translated messages sent by the agent appear in the Event log.
End-user comments and replies appear only in the original language.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_qgd_rdq_zgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">The end-user experience</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">
<div class="div">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">When an agent turns on automatic translation for a conversation,
the end user does not receive an activation notification—agent messages
simply appear in their detected language. However, translated agent messages
<em class="ph i">are</em> identified in the conversation. In messaging conversations,
AWS translated messages are identified by the word <strong class="ph b">Translated</strong> in
their detected language.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_qgd_rdq_zgc__image_sgd_rdq_zgc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/aw_auto_translate_enduser_social.png" width="300"></p>
<p class="p"> For AI translations, the message says <strong class="ph b">Translated by AI</strong> in their
native language, if the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9837507006106#topic_mvp_j5k_hzb" target="_blank">disclosure setting is activated</a> by
an admin.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_gtl_z2r_q3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Translation limitations</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Translation limitations include:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_gtl_z2r_q3c__ul_tlw_gsc_5nb">
<li class="li">Incoming chat and messaging translations aren't saved. They run again each
time a ticket is updated or reloaded, so translation results may vary.</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://docs.smooch.io/guide/shorthand/" target="_blank">SunCo Shorthands</a> are not supported for
translations.</li>
<li class="li">Translations for third-party widgets are not supported.</li>
<li class="li">Our translation service cannot accurately translate texts written in a
phonetic manner. For example, translation will only work for Hindi text in
Devanagari script but won't work when it is written in Roman script.</li>
<li class="li">If the translation fails when an agent sends an outgoing email, the email
will still be sent in the original language after five minutes. </li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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