This help file describes AI Translation, explains why it's better than traditional translation, and how it works with other AI features.
Before you start
- AI Translation is available as as add-on.
- Take a look at our pricing page to find out more.
01 How does the improved AI Translation work?
AI Translation enables you to support customers in any language, by detecting the language of the incoming message, translating it to the agent’s perferred language and offering a translation of the agent’s response before sending it to the customer. Here's how it works:1. Each agent sets their 'Preferred language' under Settings > Account > Profile Preferences > General tab > Preferred language. This will be the language in which the eDesk interface will be displayed for the agent and it will be the default language that all customer messages are translated to, unless the message is in a language that the agent understands.
2. Next, each agent selects the languages they understand in Settings > Account > Profile Preferences > Mailbox > Languages I understand. Any incoming tickets written in the selected languages will not be translated for the agent.
Tickets in any other language will be translated to the agent’s preferred language.
3. When a ticket is received, the language is detected. If the agent understands the language, it will not be translated, if it is not selected on the list, it is translated into the preferred language. In the example below, the original message was in French and it has been auto-translated to the agent's preferred language, English.
Clicking the globe icon will show the original language.
4. The agent types or generates their response into the reply box reply box and presses Send.
5. Once send is pressed, the translate options will show. You can select to send in the customer’s own language (French in this example), your preferred language, or select another language. 
6. After a language has been selected, the message can be reviewed and edited before sending.
02 Why choose AI Translation?
eDesk's AI Translation delivers real, tangible benefits to your customers and your business.- Better translation
Traditional auto-translation features provide literal translation, which is good enough to be understood but may sometimes fumble slang and contain grammatical errors. Our AI Translation uses a superior language model and is able to deliver high-quality, fluent, natural, and context-aware translation that reads like a native speaker.
Benefits: High quality communications build trust, deliver a better customer experience, and boost customer loyalty. - Support for all major languages and many less-common languages
eDesk AI translation supports a wide range of translations for a significant number of languages, aiming to facilitate communication across linguistic barriers.
Benefits: The ability to support customers in their own language is critical to the successful expansion of your business abroad. - Better language detection
eDesk AI Translation uses sophisticated algorithms to understand the meaning and context of incoming and outgoing messages, making it much more reliable for agents.
Benefits: A big time-saver for agents. As Agents can rely on the accuracy of the translation, they don't need to check it using other translation tools, and can deliver faster responses with less effort. - Message cleaning
eDesk AI Translation detects the language of the customer message even if it's sent in a notification from a channel that's in a different language. For example, an English-speaking agent opens an automatic message from a marketplace that's in English but that contains a message from the customer in French. In this case, the customer's message would be translated from French to English so that the agent can understand it, and when they type their response in English, it will be translated to French for the customer.
Benefits: A comprehensive translation service that translates all incoming messages if needed. - Further translation features
eDesk AI takes the hard work out of supporting customers in multiple languages. As well as Message cleaning, eDesk AI Translation enables agents to choose to send their outgoing message in one of a number of languages. They can edit the translation if required, and can also enhance their original response before translating it using the AI Composer. You can read more about our AI tools here.
Further readings:
To learn about language detection for AI Responses in eDesk, click here.
You can read more about our of AI tools here.
