Translating ThingLink media projects

Starting February 29, 2024, your standard ThingLink content (images, videos, 360° images, and 360° videos) can be automatically translated into over 40 different languages!

In the tutorial video below, you’ll learn how to translate and share ThingLink media in different languages:

This article includes:

• Availability
• How to translate content 
  • Updating texts and translations
  • How to correct a mistake
• Sharing different language versions
  • Embedding a translated version
• Supported languages
• Notes and limitations

Availability

Automatic content translations are available on the following subscription plans:

• K-12 accounts: Enhanced and Staff Training licenses
• Higher Education accounts: College/School and Campus licenses 
• Business/Public Sector accounts: all licenses include automatic content translation 

How to translate content

Open the scene you would like to translate and click the 'Translate' button in the upper-right corner:

This will open up a new window. First, select the original language of the scene (i.e. the language you used when adding texts to the scene), 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 scene to the selected languages. This may take 1-5 minutes depending on how much text you have added to the scene.

Refresh the page and you will see the language selector icon appear in the bottom-right corner of your scene. This button allows the viewer to choose their desired language:

Simply select one of the languages and review the translation.

Note: this button is enabled by default, but you can hide it by editing the scene, navigating to the Settings tab inside the editor, and toggling the button off.

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 scene is originally in English and translated to Spanish, and you make an edit to one of the tags, that tag will be displayed in English in both the English and the Spanish versions of your scene 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 manually' 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.

Sharing different language versions

There are two ways you can share different language versions:

1. Simply share the link or embed your project on your website and instruct the viewer to switch between languages using the language selector button, or
2. Share a language-specific link (or use language-specific embed code) that will display the project in the language you determine

To get a language-specific link:

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

Note: 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.

Embedding a translated version

1. Open your project and click the Share button
2. Select 'Embed on website'
3. Click the language and select the desired language from the drop-down menu:
   
4. Copy the embed code and insert it into your site

The project 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.

Note that the differences in embed code are very minor - the only thing that changes is the source URL. You can confirm that the code works correctly by opening one of the tags after you add the code to your website.

Supported languages

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

Does your project 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 scenes retain all translations of the original scene.
• Each scene in a tour is translated separately.
• Translated text may lose formatting. For example, if the original text was bolded, the translated version of the text will not be bolded. You can adjust this by correcting the translated version manually.
• Changes are not translated automatically. Make sure to update your translations if you make any changes to your scene: Updating translations
• 3D model scenes cannot be translated yet.