The Complete Guide to Help Center Translation (2026)

Your help center is often the first place customers go when they need answers. But what happens when your customers speak different languages?

Help center translation isn't just about converting words. It's about making your entire self-service experience accessible to customers worldwide. Done right, it reduces support ticket volume, improves customer satisfaction, and opens doors to international markets.

This guide covers everything you need to know: the business case, practical challenges, platform-specific approaches, and the tools that actually work.

Why Translate Your Help Center?

Before diving into the how, let's be clear about the why. Help center translation delivers measurable business impact.

Reduce Support Ticket Volume

Customers who can find answers in their native language don't submit tickets. It's that simple.

Research shows that 72% of customers prefer to make purchases in their native language, and this preference extends to self-service support. When your help center speaks their language, customers can solve problems independently.

A company serving customers in 5 languages but only offering English documentation is essentially telling 80% of their international customers: "Figure it out yourself, or contact support."

Improve Customer Satisfaction

Nobody enjoys struggling through poorly translated or English-only documentation when they're already frustrated with an issue.

Localized help centers create better experiences:

• Faster time-to-resolution
• Higher comprehension of instructions
• Better perception of your brand's professionalism
• Reduced frustration and churn

Support International Growth

Expanding into new markets? Your help center needs to expand too.

Translated documentation signals commitment to international customers. It's often the difference between a customer choosing your product or a local competitor with native-language support.

The Three Approaches to Help Center Translation

Not all translation methods are equal. Here's how they compare.

1. Manual Translation

The traditional approach: export articles, send to translators, import translations.

Pros:

• Highest quality when using professional translators
• Full control over terminology and tone
• Good for highly specialized or technical content

Cons:

• Slow (days to weeks per batch)
• Expensive ($0.10-0.30 per word)
• Doesn't scale with frequent content updates
• Translations become outdated quickly

Best for: Companies with infrequent content updates and budget for professional translation services.

2. Machine Translation Only

Google Translate, DeepL, or similar tools applied directly to your content.

Pros:

• Fast and cheap
• Can translate large volumes instantly

Cons:

• Quality varies significantly by language
• Misses brand voice and terminology
• Can produce embarrassing or confusing results
• No memory of previous translations

Best for: Internal documentation where quality isn't customer-facing.

3. AI-Assisted Translation with Human Review

The modern approach: AI does the heavy lifting, humans ensure quality.

Pros:

• Speed of machine translation
• Quality approaching professional translation
• Consistent terminology via glossaries
• Translation memory reduces costs over time
• Scales with content updates

Cons:

• Requires initial setup of glossaries and style guides
• Some review effort still needed

Best for: Most help centers that need to balance quality, speed, and cost.

Help Center Translation Best Practices

Regardless of which approach you choose, these practices will improve your results.

1. Don't Translate Everything

Not all help center content needs translation. Prioritize:

1. High-traffic articles: Check your analytics. The 20% of articles that get 80% of views should be translated first.
2. Getting started guides: New users need native-language onboarding.
3. Troubleshooting content: Customers are already frustrated; don't add language barriers.
4. Billing and account articles: Money-related content needs clarity.

Low-priority: Internal documentation, rarely-viewed edge cases, platform-specific content for markets you don't serve.

2. Create a Translation Glossary

Consistency matters. Create a glossary of:

• Product names (translate or keep in English?)
• Technical terms
• Brand-specific language
• Feature names

Update this glossary before any translation project. Share it with translators or configure it in your translation tool.

3. Write Translation-Friendly Source Content

Your English articles affect translation quality. Write for translation:

• Use simple sentence structures: Avoid complex clauses and idioms
• Be explicit: "Click the blue Submit button" beats "Click it"
• Avoid humor and cultural references: They don't translate
• Use consistent terminology: Don't use "dashboard," "admin panel," and "control center" interchangeably

4. Preserve Formatting

Screenshots, videos, code blocks, and formatting all need consideration:

• Screenshots: Decide whether to localize them (expensive) or use annotation arrows (cheaper)
• Code blocks: Usually shouldn't be translated
• Bold/italic/links: Must be preserved in translations
• Variables/placeholders: Should remain in the original format

5. Plan for Updates

Help centers aren't static. Plan how you'll:

• Detect when source articles change
• Notify translators or trigger re-translation
• Track which translations are outdated
• Handle articles that change frequently

This is where manual translation breaks down and automated tools shine.

Platform-Specific Translation Guides

Each help center platform has different translation capabilities and challenges.

Intercom Help Center Translation

Intercom has built-in support for multilingual help centers, but the translation workflow is manual by default.

Native capabilities:

• Create articles in multiple languages
• Automatic locale detection for visitors
• Language selector for manual switching

Challenges:

• No built-in translation automation
• Updates to English articles don't flag translations as outdated
• Managing translations across many articles is tedious

Solution: Tools like Translate Desk connect directly to Intercom and automate the translation workflow. Articles sync automatically, translations are managed in one place, and updates trigger re-translation of changed content.

For a detailed walkthrough, see our guide to translating Intercom articles.

Zendesk Help Center Translation

Zendesk Guide supports multiple languages out of the box.

Native capabilities:

• Multilingual content with locale variants
• Dynamic content for reusable translated snippets
• Translation integration marketplace

Challenges:

• Manual translation workflow without third-party tools
• Dynamic content has learning curve
• Keeping translations in sync requires discipline

Solution: Use Zendesk's translation integration partners or export/import workflows with TMS tools.

For Zendesk-specific guidance, see our Zendesk help center translation guide.

Freshdesk Help Center Translation

Freshdesk supports multilingual knowledge bases across all plans.

Native capabilities:

• Multiple language versions of each article
• Language-based portal segmentation
• Article status tracking per language

Challenges:

• Manual translation similar to other platforms
• Limited automation in native tooling

For Freshdesk specifics, check our Freshdesk multilingual knowledge base guide.

Measuring Translation ROI

Translation is an investment. Here's how to measure if it's working.

Key Metrics to Track

1. Self-service ratio by language

   • What percentage of visitors in each language find answers vs. submit tickets?
   • Compare to your English baseline

2. Article engagement by locale

   • Page views per article per language
   • Time on page (longer often means comprehension)
   • Bounce rate from help center

3. Support ticket volume by language

   • Track before and after translation rollout
   • Segment by article topic to identify gaps

4. Translation coverage

   • What percentage of high-traffic articles are translated?
   • What's your translation debt (outdated translations)?

Calculating ROI

Simple formula:

Translation ROI = (Tickets Deflected × Cost per Ticket) / Translation Costs

If you deflect 100 tickets per month at $15/ticket, that's $1,500/month in savings. If translation costs $500/month, ROI is 3x.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Translating Everything at Once

Don't try to translate your entire help center in one project. Start with high-impact content, measure results, then expand.

Ignoring Quality Review

Even the best AI translation needs human review for customer-facing content. Budget 10-20% of translation time for review.

Forgetting About Maintenance

Initial translation is maybe 30% of the effort. The rest is keeping translations current as content evolves.

Using Generic Translation Tools

Consumer translation tools lack the features help centers need: glossaries, translation memory, formatting preservation, and platform integration.

Getting Started: Your First 30 Days

Week 1: Audit and Prioritize

• Identify your top 20 articles by traffic
• List target languages based on customer data
• Document your terminology in a glossary

Week 2: Choose Your Approach

• Evaluate manual vs. automated translation
• If automated, test tools with sample articles
• Set up your translation workflow

Week 3-4: Translate Priority Content

• Translate your top articles
• Review and refine translations
• Publish and announce to customers

Ongoing: Maintain and Expand

• Monitor metrics
• Keep translations updated
• Expand to more content based on ROI

FAQ

How much does help center translation cost?

Costs vary widely. Manual professional translation runs $0.10-0.30 per word. Automated tools with AI translation typically cost $20-100/month for small help centers, scaling with volume. The real cost question is: what does it cost you NOT to translate?

Which languages should I translate into first?

Check your analytics. Where are your customers located? What languages appear in support tickets? Common starting points: Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Japanese, but your data should guide the decision.

How do I handle screenshots in translated articles?

Three approaches: (1) Leave screenshots in English with translated captions, (2) Use universal icons/annotations that don't need translation, (3) Create localized screenshots for major languages. Option 1 is most common for practical reasons.

Should I translate my entire help center?

No. Start with high-traffic, high-impact content. Translating rarely-viewed articles wastes budget. Use the 80/20 rule: translate the 20% of articles that serve 80% of visitors.

How often should I update translations?

Whenever the source article changes significantly. Good translation tools detect changes automatically and flag outdated translations. At minimum, review translations quarterly.

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Ready to start translating your help center? If you're on Intercom, try Translate Desk free to automate your translation workflow and manage multilingual content in one place.