Chat Translation
Chat Translation lets your team read every conversation in a language they understand and reply in their own, while visitors read the reply in theirs. Originals are always kept and translations are cached per message, so nothing is ever lost or re-billed.
Open it from Translation in the left-hand menu. The page has three tabs: General, Provider and Staff languages.
General
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Your display language | The language staff see incoming visitor messages in. |
| Translate incoming messages automatically | On: visitor messages show in your language as they arrive. Off: staff translate on click. |
| Translate my replies back automatically | On: your reply is delivered instantly, then swapped into the visitor's language a moment later. |
| Show translations in the widget automatically | On: visitors see translated messages automatically. Off: visitors get a per-message See translation option. |
Click Save after changing anything.
Leaving Show translations in the widget automatically off is recommended. The per-message option roughly halves your translation costs, because only messages a visitor actually asks to translate are sent to the provider.
Provider
Choose where translations come from:
| Provider | Notes |
|---|---|
| AI model | Uses the AI key you already have. No new vendor or account. |
| DeepL | Requires a DeepL API key. |
| Google Translate | Requires a Google Translate API key. |
Paste the provider key when you choose DeepL or Google, then click Save. Use Test provider to translate a sample phrase and confirm the key works — the result appears next to the button.
For DeepL and Google, leave the key box blank on later visits to keep the stored key.
Staff languages
Each person with access to the inbox can have their own language:
- The owner and every support agent are listed.
- Set a person's language to override the display language from the General tab.
- Set a person to Default (empty) to fall back to the shared display language.
This is helpful when your team spans several languages.
How it behaves
- Staff replies are never delayed. The original is delivered immediately and the translation swaps in when it is ready.
- Originals are kept. Translation never replaces the stored message.
- Translations are cached per message, so the same message is not translated twice.
- Visitors stay in control. With widget auto-translation off, a visitor translates only the messages they choose.