Set your language preferences

Pick the language you work in (primary), the languages you read natively (secondary), and the language you want the Atender UI to appear in.

May 10, 2026

Set your language preferences

Language preferences are per-agent. Each person on your team picks the language they reply in, the languages they read natively, and the language they want the Atender UI itself to appear in.

Before you start

Steps

  1. Open Settings → Language.
  2. Set the three fields:
  • Interface language — The language you want menus, buttons, and labels to appear in. — Cosmetic — affects only what you see in the app. Doesn’t change how messages are translated.
  • Primary language — The language you read and reply in for customer messages. — Inbound messages get translated into this. Your replies get composed in this and translated out.
  • Secondary languages — Languages you read natively and don’t want translated. — Messages in these languages come through as the customer wrote them.
  1. Click Save.

Verify it worked

  • Refresh a conversation. A message you know is in a language other than your primary or secondary should now appear translated, with a toggle to see the original.
  • A message in your primary language should appear unchanged (no translation needed).
  • A message in one of your secondary languages should appear unchanged (you’re trusted to read it).
  • The Atender UI text — sidebar labels, button text — should be in your interface language.

Picking a primary language well

Your primary language should be the language you’re most comfortable working in. It’s where:

  • All translated inbound messages land
  • All your composed replies start before being translated out

If you toggle between two languages day to day, pick one as primary and add the other as secondary so messages in the secondary language pass through untranslated.

Adding multiple secondary languages

You can list as many secondary languages as you read natively. Each one disables translation for messages arriving in that language. There’s no limit and no cost — secondary languages just mean “don’t translate this for me.”

When the system gets it wrong

Atender detects the source language automatically. If a customer’s message is mixed-language or very short, detection can land on the wrong language. When that happens:

  • Toggle to view the original on the message
  • Reply in your primary language as usual; the outbound translation will pick the customer’s predominant language for the conversation

If detection is consistently wrong for a customer, file feedback via the response-flagging mechanism so the issue can be investigated.

See also

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