Question
What are some of the key features of Google Translate on Chat?
Answer
When an end user clicks to start a new chat our system checks the first word and string of text sent from them. If it detects a language that is different than what is configured in your personal settings for the Chat dashboard, a small pop-up will appear to indicate that the end-user is typing in a different language. This will also present agents with two options: Translate or Dismiss:
The Dismiss option will remove that pop-up for Google Translate. The Translate option will, as it suggests, translate the end user's response for the answering agent and any subsequent messages from the Chat agent for the end user:
For agents, next to the end user's translated message is an option to show the original un-translated text and next to the agent's message is an option to show how their message was translated:
End users will not be notified that their messages are being translated, but they will see both the agent's original untranslated responses and a translated version which will always be labeled as translated in their native language in parentheses like this:
Additional things to note:
- At the end of the chat when a ticket is created, none of the end-user message translations will appear in the transcript.
- Translations are only overlaid by Google Translate for the duration of the chat - this is why the end user's translated messages are not saved on the transcript.
- Both the original and translated messages sent by the agent will appear in the transcript.
- If the Google Translate feature does not automatically detect the language an end user is typing in, agents can manually activate the feature to translate the chat by clicking the Actions drop-down button in the upper right-hand corner of the chat window and click to translate.
- Agents can change the translated language at any time using the Google Translate menu at the top of the chat.
- Google Translate does not automatically translate to customer's language the messages from agent to end-users when an agent initiates a chat from the dashboard.
- Google Translate may not detect the end user's language for 1-word chats. For example, if you send a message that says "hola," Google Translate will not match on Español.
- There is a 5000 character limit on translation. Anything above that will not end up being translated due to Google’s implementation of the service.
19 Comments
Good morning,
Seems that Google translate supports all the languages from the customer side.
Instead seems that for the agents side, the integration only support English. Would be possible to agents answer in their native language (for example Spanish) and automatic translate their answer in the native language of the customer?
Hey Heather,
The data is sent to Google for translation but the data is not stored. Kindly see the following URL for a bit more information about Google Translation and Data Confidentiality.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
Can you tell me how the Google Translate Engine is integrated?
We have a prospect, a company that works in the Banking sector. They are interested in Chat Translation, they support a wide selection of languages, they are concerned how Zendesk use the Google Translate.
Their question is if the text typed by the end-user or the reply typed by the agent is sent to Google's servers and if that text is recorded/stored by Google OR if the Google Translate technology is incorporated within Zendesk's own infrastructure and that the text is not shared with Google.
thank you, Mark
Hi Vijaya, see this thread here
https://zopimsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/210315887-Google-Translate-dont-show-translated-in-brackets
I'm looking for exactly the same thing...
Thank you, Travis! This is very helpful.
Hi ... I have a requirement like Vijaya Kumar.... We dont want the option (Show Original) in the translated chat....How to attain that?
The below link from Duncan says ... I donot have access to this resource.
https://zopimsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/210315887-Google-Translate-dont-show-translated-in-brackets
Please can you help.
Thanks
Suman
Hi Brett
I'll keep an eye out to see if it happens again. We don't often deal with chat, so I haven't got a lot of data or examples to pull from - that was the only reason I could think of as to why it didn't work this time.
Thanks!
Thank you for clarifying. I was able to find out that Google Translate for Agent Workspaces is currently being tested. I don't have an ETA for you, but can confirm that it will eventually be available.
Zendesk chat is HIPAA, correct? Our subscription includes advanced security. We also have the similar question as Mark Hinson. For privacy/security reasons, we would also like to understand if the using Zendesk Chat with Google translate will cause any security issues.
Hi Nicole,
You don't seem to understand what I am referring to. Not in chat but in Agent Suite workspace - when you switch to conversations, everything will be in one place including chat. And here, google translate is not available. When is it going to be functional?
Hi Maurice Melvin Asuncion,
Happy to let you know that we have enabled Native translations in Agent Workspace. Agents will now be able to communicate in the End User's language for conversations coming through Chat / Social Channels.
More information can be checked here.
Regards,
Ayush
Hi Teresa,
Since you have the Advanced Security add-on, I can confirm that Zendesk Chat (Enterprise) is covered by a Business Associate Agreement that ensures HIPAA compliance.
Additionally, I can confirm that utilizing Zendesk Chat with Google translate should not cause any security issues. Like my associate, Travis, mentioned above, the data that is sent to Google to be translated is not stored. In short, the data is only sent to Google to be translated.
Please let us know if there's anything else we can clarify or if you have any additional questions!
Is this a setting in Chat?
We would also have the same question as Mark Hinson. For privacy/security reasons, we would want to understand the routing and possible retention of the text.
Hi Claire Miller,
For End-User, is there any way to send only 'translation' message rather than sending both un-translated and translated messages, it doesn't really give good customer experience for end-user to see 2 messages every time when translation is happened on Agent console.
Hey Fiona,
From what I could find out, Google Translate is case sensitive which can affect what's being auto-translated. Have you had any other occurrences where the auto-translation did not work as expected?
Let me know!
Would a customer typing in capital letters prevent the autotranslation from picking up? I just had a customer typing in Spanish and the autotranslate didn't show. Just wondering if that might be why. Thanks!
Happy to help Fiona :)
Let us know if the issue comes up again!
Is Google Translate already available in conversations / agent suite?
All of the functionality described in the article above is currently available.
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