---
title: "Support customers in several languages"
description: "Set up one bot that answers customers in their own language, with the widget translated and greetings per language, or one bot per language."
canonical_url: "https://chatthing.ai/docs/use-cases/multilingual-support"
last_updated: "2026-09-25"
---

# Support customers in several languages

**Available on:** Free, Basic, Standard, Pro, Enterprise plans.

A multilingual bot is for businesses with customers in more than one country or language, and a support team that can't cover every language at every hour. The same bot can answer a question asked in Spanish, German or Japanese, usually from the same knowledge, so you don't have to translate your whole help centre before you start.

Two things are set separately: the language of the widget's interface (buttons, placeholders and labels), and the language the bot answers in. This page shows how to get both right, and when one bot per language is the better choice.

> **Plans**
>
> Everything on this page works on every plan. The widget interface is available in 10 languages. Running one bot per language uses one of your plan's bots each (Free 1, Basic 3, Standard 6, Pro 20, Enterprise 50). See [Compare plans](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/plans).
>
> **Who can do this:** [team owners and admins](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/teams#what-each-role-can-do) set this up.

## One bot or one per language?

|  | One bot for all languages | One bot per language |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Setup | One set of knowledge and instructions | Separate knowledge, instructions and power-ups for each |
| Best when | Your content is mostly in one language and products are the same everywhere | Each market has its own products, prices, policies or support team |
| Handoffs | One team inbox receives all languages | Each bot can hand off to the local team |

Most businesses start with one bot and split only when a market's content or team is genuinely different.

## What you'll set up

1. **Knowledge sources.** Add your main content as usual. The bot can often answer a question in one language from content in another, but answers are more reliable when your key pages (pricing, returns, top FAQs) exist in each language your customers use. Add translated pages as extra [website](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/website) URLs or [manual content](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/manual). [YouTube](https://chatthing.ai/docs/knowledge/youtube) sources only use English captions.
2. **Instructions.** Add a language rule to the **Prompt**, as in the example below. Without one, most models reply in the language the customer writes in, but a Prompt written in one language can pull answers towards it. See [Write your bot's instructions](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/instructions#control-which-language-the-bot-answers-in).
3. **Channel: the widget.** Set the interface language in the web channel's **Language** menu (English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Polish or Dutch), then copy the embed code again, because the language is part of it. On a site with several language versions, set `locale`, `firstMessageOverride` and `exampleQuestionsOverride` in `window.chatThingConfig` on each version instead. See [Set the widget language](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/website/languages).
4. **Other channels.** [WhatsApp](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/whatsapp), [email](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/email) and the other channels (Standard and above) follow the same Prompt rule, so customers get replies in the language they wrote in.
5. **Handoff.** With [Talk to a human](https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups/talk-to-a-human), your team receives the conversation in the customer's language. Tell the bot to add a one-line English summary before handing off, or hand off to a team that speaks the language.
6. **Analytics.** Review [Conversations](https://chatthing.ai/docs/manage/conversations) in each language you support, ideally with a native speaker, at least in the first few weeks.

## Example instructions

```text
You are the support assistant for Acme, which sells coffee equipment across Europe.

Language:
- Always reply in the language the customer writes in. If they switch language, switch with them.
- If you can't tell which language they're using, reply in English.
- Our help content is mostly in English. Translate answers naturally, but keep product names, menu labels and order numbers exactly as written.
- Prices differ by country. Only quote the price for the customer's country if it's in the information provided; otherwise link to the product page.

Handoff:
- Before passing a conversation to the team, write a one-line summary in English of what the customer needs.
```

More starting points: [multilingual support prompts](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/prompt-library#multilingual-support) in the prompt library.

## Example conversations

> **Customer:** Hola, ¿cuánto tarda el envío a Valencia?
>
> **Bot:** ¡Hola! Los envíos a España peninsular tardan de 2 a 4 días laborables, y son gratuitos a partir de 50 €. ¿Quieres que te explique cómo seguir tu pedido?

> **Customer:** Meine Maschine zeigt den Fehler E04 an.
>
> **Bot:** Fehler E04 bedeutet, dass der Wassertank nicht richtig sitzt. Nimm den Tank heraus, prüfe, ob der Dichtungsring sauber ist, und setze ihn fest wieder ein. Wenn der Fehler bleibt, verbinde ich dich gern mit unserem Support-Team.

## Pitfalls

- **Expecting the Language menu to translate answers.** It only translates the widget's interface. It doesn't change the reply language or translate your welcome message and example questions.
- **Forgetting to update the embed code.** After changing **Language**, copy the code from **Embed** again. An unsupported `locale` code falls back to English.
- **Translated menu labels.** If your product's UI is only in English, tell the bot to keep menu labels in English, or customers won't find the buttons it describes.
- **Region-specific facts from the wrong region.** Prices, delivery times and legal terms often differ by country. Label them clearly in your content, or use one bot per market.
- **No native-speaker review.** A fluent-sounding answer can still be wrong or oddly formal. Have someone who speaks the language check a sample of conversations.

## Related

- [Set the widget language and the language your bot answers in](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/website/languages): Translate the chat widget's buttons and labels into one of 10 languages, control which language your bot answers in, and run the bot on a multilingual website.
- [Customise the chat widget with code](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/website/customise-with-code): Every chatThingConfig option for the Chat Thing widget - position, colours, launcher label, auto-open, per-language greetings and full CSS overrides.
- [Write your bot's instructions](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/instructions): Write the prompt that sets your bot's role, topics, tone, answer length, language, power-up use and handoff, with before-and-after examples.