Guides and Surveys - Localization

The Localization module in Guides and Surveys lets you translate your content into multiple languages. You can translate tours, checklists, banners, and smart tips. The module provides an administration interface for managing translations and an API that provides access to translated terms.

This article covers the following:

• Setting up languages
  • Setting a default reference language
• Understanding terms and translations
• Creating and translating content
  • Adding content for translation
  • Translating your content
  • Importing and exporting translations
• How users see translations
• Manual translation using page targeting
  • Targeting options for multi-lingual content
• Frequently Asked Questions

Setting up languages

The first screen of the Localization module shows the languages you have added.

• To add a new language: Click the +Add Language button and select your desired language from the dropdown menu.
• To manage translations: Use the Edit button next to any language to see all the content that needs translating (Terms).

Setting a default reference language

You can set a global reference language that acts as the default comparison point for all translation tasks.

1. Click the Settings button (located next to the +Add Language button).
2. In the modal that appears, select your Default Reference Language (for example, English) from the dropdown menu and click Save.

This ensures that whenever you open a language for editing, your preferred reference text is automatically displayed next to the translation fields, making comparison and translation straightforward.

Understanding terms and translations

Each language contains terms and translations. All languages share identical terms but have different translations.

• Terms are the original pieces of text in your content (for example, "Welcome to our site").
• Translations are the localized versions of those terms for each language.

Creating and translating content

Once you have set up your languages, you can add content for translation, translate terms directly in the module, or use file import and export for bulk translation.

Adding content for translation

You do not need to manually create terms. Guides and Surveys can generate them automatically from your existing content.

1. Go to the content settings (for your tour, banner, checklist, or smart tip).
2. In the Localization section, activate the toggle.
3. Choose the language currently used in that content (for example, English).
4. Save the content.

The system automatically creates a unique Term for every text segment and populates your chosen language with the corresponding translation.

Translating your content

Once the terms are generated, you can translate them in the Localization module.

• Translating content with images: If a term includes an image, use the Copy button next to the translation field. This copies the content (including image code) into the translation field, ready for you to change only the text.
• Filtering: Use the filtering option to focus only on untranslated terms and content.

Importing and exporting translations

To translate large amounts of text outside of Guides and Surveys:

1. Use the Export function to download all your terms in CSV, JSON, or XLIFF format.
2. Have your translators work on the file.
3. Use the Import button on the language detail page to upload the translated file back into the selected language.

How users see translations

After you have completed and saved the translations:

• User view: Guides and Surveys automatically shows your end users the content in their correct language, based on the lang attribute in their website's HTML tag.
• Previewing translations: You can preview translated content in any language you have set up in the Localization module.

Manual translation using page targeting

Before the Localization module was available, the recommended approach was to manually translate content by creating separate versions per language and using page targeting to display the correct version based on the user's language. This approach requires more maintenance but can be useful in specific scenarios.

1. Create your content in your primary language (for example, English).
2. Clone the content and translate it into a secondary language (for example, German).
3. Set up page targeting on each version so the correct language is displayed to the user.

Targeting options for multi-lingual content

Depending on how your product is built, you can target users in the following ways:

• User segmentation: If your Guides and Surveys installation shares the user's language as a tag, you can target content using that condition. For example, configure your script to send the language as a tag and then set up targeting based on that tag in the content settings.
• Browser language: The "Language is" condition checks the preferred language in the visitor's browser settings and displays the corresponding content.
• URL-based targeting: If your pages contain the language in their URL (for example, www.exampledomain.com/de-de/pagename), you can use the "URL contains" condition.
• Language selector element: If your page provides a language selector, you can target the user's choice using the "Element text contains" condition.

Frequently Asked Questions

What content types support localization?

You can translate tours, checklists, banners, and smart tips using the Localization module.

How does Guides and Surveys determine which language to display?

Guides and Surveys automatically detects the user's language based on the lang attribute in the website's HTML tag and displays the corresponding translations.

What file formats can I use for importing and exporting translations?

You can export and import translations in CSV, JSON, or XLIFF format.

What happens if I change the language setting on content that already has translations?

If you change the language in the content settings and save, the system will overwrite the translations for the new language and erase all previous translations in other languages. Always verify the language setting before saving.

How do I display content in right-to-left (RTL) languages?

Add the dir="rtl" attribute to the opening <html> tag of your page, before the <head> element. For example: <html lang="ar" dir="rtl">. Guides and Surveys automatically adjusts its content direction based on this attribute.