Translating scenarios

Your ThingLink scenarios can be automatically translated into 27 different languages! In this article, you'll find how to translate and share scenarios in different languages. 

• Availability
• How to translate scenarios 
• Sharing different language versions
  • Turn on the language selector button
  • Share a scenario in a pre-determined language
• Updating texts and translations
• How to correct a mistake
• Supported languages
• Notes and limitations

Availability

Automatic content translations are available on the following subscription plans:

• Business accounts: Enterprise license
• Educational accounts: Unlimited Bundle, School District, Campus and Multi-Campus licenses 

How to translate scenarios

Open the scenario you would like to translate, click the ellipsis (three dots) button in the upper right corner and select 'Translate':

This will open up a new window. First, select the original language of the scenario, then select all languages that you'd like to translate it to and click 'Save and translate':

ThingLink will then translate all texts in the scenario to the selected languages. This may take a few minutes depending on how much text you have added to the scenario. However, this will not translate the scenes inside the scenario (interactive images, 3D models, or videos). If your scenario contains ThingLink scenes, you will need to translate them separately. Learn more about translating scenes here. 

Reviewing & sharing different language versions

There are two ways you can view and share translated versions of your scenario:

1. Turn on the language selector button. This will allow users to select which version of the scenario they wish to view. If you chose this route, you might want to prompt your users to use the button at the beginning of the scenario.
2. Share a language-specific link (or use language-specific embed code). This will open the scenario in a language you determine, so the viewer does not have to select their preferred language.

In both cases, the scenes inside your scenario will automatically use the same language as the scenario (as long as they are translated, too). For example, if your scenario was made in English and you share a link to the German version, all scenes will automatically be displayed in German.

Turn on the language selector button

If you want the language selector to appear in the scenario:

1. Click the 'Settings' (cog icon) button inside the scenario editor
2. Enable 'Show language selector' setting 
3. Preview your scenario

The language selector button will be displayed in the lower-right corner, allowing the viewer to choose their desired language:

Share a scenario in a pre-determined language

1. Open the share menu
2. Choose how you want to share your scenario (by embedding it, via a link, or using the accessibility player)
3. Click the language dropdown, then select the desired language
4. Copy the link or the embed code

The scenario will load in the language you've selected. If you do not want your viewers to be able to switch to other versions, make sure to disable the language selector button via in-editor settings.

Updating texts & translations

Note that the translations are not updated automatically when you change any of the texts in your scene. If you make an edit, make sure to go to the Translate menu again and simply click the 'Translate & save' button to refresh the translations.

Any untranslated texts will be displayed in the original language. For example, if your scenario is originally in English and translated to Spanish, and you make an edit to one of the blocks. In that case, the edited block will be displayed in English in both the English and the Spanish versions of your scenario until you update the translations.

How to correct a mistake

Automated translations may occasionally make mistakes, especially if your text contains a lot of proper nouns. If you wish to correct or modify the translated texts, you can edit them manually. Open the Translate menu and click the 'Edit JSON' button (pen icon):

This will bring up a new window that lists all original texts and translated text strings for each language version. To modify a translated text, simply click it and enter the updated text:

Edited texts will be highlighted in green color. Once you've updated all translations you wish to update, click the 'Save & close' button in the bottom-right corner to apply changes.

Supported languages

ThingLink currently supports automatic translations from and to the following languages:

Does your scenario use a language that is not on the list? Submit a request here and we will check if we can add support for it.

Miscellaneous notes and limitations

• Clones of translated scenarios retain all translations of the original scenario.
• Scenes inside the scenarios must be translated separately. Please see this article: Automated content translation.
• Formatted text loses formatting in translated versions. You may need to correct the formatting manually - please see the 'How to correct a mistake' section of this article.
• Changes are not translated automatically. Make sure to update your translations if you make any changes to your scenario: Updating translations.