Chattermill processes feedback in dozens of languages. This article describes how this works and provides various options to customize the default process.
Why do you translate feedback into English?
There are two main reasons:
Most of our users speak English, so it is more convenient for them to read the feedback in English when they do not speak the language. We cannot currently translate feedback into other languages in the app.
Our different machine-learning models are all trained on data in English and perform best in this language.
Doesn't translation miss important context?
For humans, it sometimes does. For other machines, like the ones we use (deep learning), the drop in accuracy is minimal for most popular languages. Machine translation quality has improved dramatically over the last few years, meaning the quality is now not too far from professional human translation.
Machine learning models perform best when trained on larger datasets. Additionally, modern models, such as those used by Chattermill, are typically built on top of other models released by researchers and larger companies. English traditionally has the richest and most advanced ecosystem of such models
We have learned that we get far better performance from one model working in English with translation than from multiple language-specific models.
How do you translate data into English?
We are constantly experimenting with new approaches to improving the quality of translation. Depending on the specific language pair, we utilize a mixture of open-source models and external translation providers such as Amazon and Google Cloud.
Do I need to label the language of the feedback?
It is always helpful if you can label the language upfront, but if that is too cumbersome, we have a system to detect the language of the feedback before translating it.
Can I change the translation provider?
In some cases, we can offer a specific translation provider for a language pair. Contact our Support team to discuss. Please note that we cannot guarantee the usage of a specific provider, and it might incur additional charges. The team will make you aware of your options.
I need to translate some terms in a specific way. Can I have my own glossary?
Yes, we can add words or phrases to the glossary for our Enterprise customers. Contact our Support team to set this up.
I speak a language other than English. Can you avoid translating it?
We will still translate all feedback into English (for our machine learning algorithms and for your colleagues who might not speak the same language) but you can set the application up to not show you these translations by default.
You can set this up on the Settings page using the "Select which non-English feedback you’d like to read in their original language." setting.
What other options do you have for seeing the original feedback?
In some cases, you do want the feedback translated most of the time, but switch back to the original on occasion (for example, to verify the translation). For these cases, we offer two additional features:
You can see the original language for an individual piece of feedback using the "See original" button on a piece of feedback:
You can also do the same for all feedback on a page (this is particularly useful when you have already filtered by a specific Language):
How do I find all feedback in a given language?
You can use the Language filter across most parts of the Chattermill application, including the Feedback page, Analytics, Dashboards, Custom Segments, and Workflows.
