Can AI translate for your customers?
Written lesson · about 2 minutes to read
The short answer
Yes, for everyday messages in common languages: appointment times, directions, a summary of a quote or a thank-you note. Send anything that is a contract, a safety instruction or medical to a qualified human translator, and tell customers a message was translated so they can ask again.
Three things to remember
- 01AI translation suits everyday messages in common languages, and live speech is less reliable.
- 02Contracts, safety instructions and anything medical go to a qualified human translator.
- 03Say when a message was translated, and give the customer an easy way to ask again.
What it does well
Written messages in widely spoken languages are where it works best: an appointment reminder, directions to the site, what will happen during the visit, a reply to a simple enquiry. You can write in English and have it translated, and paste in a customer's message to read it in English. Short, plain sentences in the original translate best.
Many chat assistants can also answer a website visitor in the language they write in. That means a Spanish-speaking customer can ask about your hours at eleven at night and get a sensible answer.
Where it goes wrong
Tone is the first risk: a message can come out too stiff or too casual for the customer. Idioms are the second. A ballpark figure or a rule of thumb can be translated word for word into nonsense. Technical terms are the third, because part names and trade words often have more than one translation.
Live spoken translation is improving, but it is less reliable than text, especially with noise, speed and accents. Legal words are the most dangerous. Estimate, quote, guarantee and warranty mean different things, and a wrong choice can read as a promise you never made.
Be open about it, and build a glossary
Add a short line to translated messages, such as 'This message was translated automatically. Reply if anything is unclear.' Give people a way to ask again or to speak to a person. Customers forgive a clumsy phrase far sooner than a misunderstanding they discover later. If a customer replies at length in their own language, and it matters, bring in a person who speaks it.
Build a short glossary of your own terms: how you name your services, parts and tools, with the wording you want in each language. Give it to the tool, and ask a fluent speaker to check it once.
Where to start this week
List the five messages you send most, such as the booking confirmation, the arrival window and the invoice reminder. Have the tool translate them, and ask a fluent speaker, on staff or a trusted friend, to check each one. Save the checked versions as templates.
Then write down the documents that always go to a qualified human translator: contracts, safety instructions, medical information and anything with legal effect. Put the list where the whole team can see it, so nobody sends one of them through a chat tool to save time.
More in part 7
- 1Can AI answer your phone?
- 2What is speech-to-text?
- 3What is text-to-speech?
- 4Can AI transcribe and summarise your calls?Written
- 5Can AI translate for your customers?WrittenYou are here
- 6What is document parsing (OCR)?
- 7How does AI read invoices, purchase orders and forms?Written
- 8Machine vision vs. AI vision
- 9What is AI image generation, and can you use it for marketing?Written
- 10What is AI video, and where does it help a small business?Written
Next step
Where does this fit your business?
Six quick questions about your business, then your AI plan: what to start with, what a person still checks, and the lessons that go with it. Or bring it straight to a free thirty-minute call.