Translate a conversation
Not availableTranslating messages and replies is not built yet. What the helpdesk records about a customer's language, and how to answer in other languages today.
On this page
The helpdesk cannot translate messages yet. The Translate buttons on each message and in the reply toolbar are greyed out, and hovering over them says translation is planned with the AI features. It also does not detect which language a message is written in.
Until it does, the tools below help a team that answers in more than one language.
What the helpdesk knows about language#
Tickets and customers each have a Language, written as a two-letter code such as fr or de. It is filled in from:
| Source | What it records |
|---|---|
| Chat | The language the chat window was shown in: the visitor's browser language when your widget offers it, otherwise the widget's default |
| Imports from Gorgias | The language Gorgias had recorded on the ticket or customer |
| The REST API | Whatever your own code sets |
Email and contact form tickets arrive with no language set. You can see a customer's language under Show more in their profile on the ticket.
Use language to sort the work#
Views: filter by the ticket's Language or the customer's, to give your French speaker a queue of French tickets. See View filters.
Rules: check the language in a rule's conditions to tag or assign tickets, for example assigning every
esticket to the agent who writes Spanish. See Rule conditions and actions.
Because email tickets carry no language, these only sort chat tickets and imported or API tickets. For email, a rule that looks for common words in the message ("bonjour", "merci", "hola") and tags the ticket is a workable stand-in.
Answer in the customer's language#
Macros in each language. Give each macro a language and keep a version of your common answers for each one. In Workflows > Macros you can filter the list by language, and the macro search in a ticket shows each macro's language beside its name. See Create and manage macros.
Chat in several languages. The chat window can be offered in more than one language, and visitors see it in theirs. See Chat languages and privacy.
Help center articles in several languages. Each article can have translations, so you can link a customer to the version in their language. See Write articles.
A translation tool you trust. Until translation is built in, paste the customer's message into one to read it, and check the reply you send back.
Related articles
- Chat languages and privacy noticeOffer the chat in English, French, German and Spanish, write its texts in each, and what to do about a privacy notice, which the chat does not show.
- Create and manage macrosWrite a saved reply once, apply it from any ticket, and keep the macro list tidy with search, filters, archiving and duplicates.
- Filters for views and searchEvery condition a view's filter can use, what each operator means, and how to combine conditions with all, any and groups.
- Write and organize articlesWrite help center articles, group them in categories, keep edits as drafts until you publish, translate them, and link them in replies.
Still stuck?
Write to the Growth Dept team and a person answers. Say which helpdesk you work in and what you were trying to do.