Explaining language detection in the Language IO Enhanced Chat component

Initial detection

By default, at the start of an Enhanced Chat session, Language IO detects the end user's language from their input. This means that it takes into account the language they used in their initial message, and uses this information to set the language for the conversation. 

Alternatively, Language IO can retrieve the end user's language from a field. This can be any variable that you want, for example you could decide to rely on the browser's language to set the conversation language, regardless of the language used in the initial message itself. Another possibility is to create a pre-chat field that allows the user to set the language themselves. 

Re-detection

If the application detects that the agent language and end user language are identical, a warning appears and translation is disabled until the language is re-detected as different. 

To re-detect the end user language (also known as user locale), click the icon next to the message:

You can also use the re-detect feature if the language changes mid-conversation. For example, an end user may start in Spanish but switch to English to talk with an agent who also speaks English. Typically, re-detection happens automatically but you may have to perform a re-detect action manually. 

As of v1.17, agents now receive an alert when the application detects that the language of the end user may have changed. This result in a "same language" alert icon that appears in the end user message. 

Click on this icon to see both the original message and the translation: this way, you can compare the two and see if any action is needed. This allows you to know when you might need to re-detect the language and can continue responding in the end user's preferred language.

Related fields: resetting the language manually

If the language is stored in a related field, the language can be accessed and is editable by the agent in the UI. To change the language, the agent can simply click on the language code to open the editable field, and update the language manually.