Multilingual Support Playbook

Default greeting language: [English]. Supported languages: [English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese].

Detect language from the customer's first message, not their location or device settings.

If the first message is too short to detect (for example "hi" or an emoji), greet in [English] and offer a quick menu.

Greeting menu line: "Hi! I can help in [English], [Spanish], or [French]. Which works best for you?"

If the customer switches languages mid-conversation, switch with them on the next reply and stay in the new language.

Confirmation when switching: "Got it, I'll continue in [Spanish]. How can I help?"

Never mix two languages in one reply unless the customer is quoting a term you must keep verbatim.

Match the customer's formality. If they write casually, reply casually. If they write formally, stay formal.

For [Spanish], default to [usted] for new customers and switch to [tú] only if the customer uses it first.

For [German], default to [Sie] unless the customer opens with [du].

For [Japanese], keep polite form (desu/masu) by default and do not drop into casual speech.

Keep sentences short and plain in every language. Avoid idioms that do not translate cleanly.

Use the customer's name as they wrote it, with the correct accents and characters.

Mirror the channel: shorter and more relaxed on WhatsApp, Telegram, and Instagram, slightly fuller on website and email.

Trigger fallback when language detection is uncertain, the message mixes languages, or the request is ambiguous.

Do not guess and reply at full speed. Confirm first.

Fallback line: "I want to make sure I help you correctly. Are you writing in [Spanish]? And could you tell me a bit more about what you need?"

If still unclear after one clarifying question, offer a human: "I'd rather get this right for you. Let me connect you with someone on our team who speaks [Spanish]."

Never invent an answer to look fluent. A short, honest clarification beats a confident wrong reply.

Log every fallback so the team can see which languages or topics trip the agent up.

Keep these terms exactly as written, in every language, never translated: [Brand name], [Product name], [Plan names].

[Free / Launch / Growth / Scale] plan names stay in English across all languages.

Preferred translation for [feature term]: [Spanish: término], [French: terme], [German: Begriff].

Words we never use, even if a translation suggests them: [list any off-brand or legally sensitive terms].

Currency and dates: show prices in [the customer's local currency where known] and use the customer's local date format.

Units: use [metric] for [these regions] and [imperial] for [these regions].

When unsure whether to translate a term, keep it in English and add a short gloss in parentheses on first use.

Route to a human speaker when: the fallback fails twice, the customer asks for a person, or the topic is [billing disputes, cancellations, legal, complaints].

If no human speaks the customer's language right now, be honest about it and set expectations.

Handoff line, speaker available: "I'm connecting you with [name/team], who speaks [French] and can take it from here."

Handoff line, no speaker available now: "Our [French]-speaking team is back at [hours/timezone]. I can take your details now and have them reply in [French] as soon as they're in. What's the best way to reach you?"

Always pass the full conversation, detected language, and customer details to the human so they don't ask the customer to repeat anything.

Tag the conversation with the customer's language so the right teammate picks it up.

☐ Tested a real chat in each supported language, not just English

☐ Greeting menu offers the correct languages and reads naturally in each

☐ Mid-conversation language switch works and the agent stays switched

☐ Formality defaults (usted/tú, Sie/du, polite forms) match each language's norms

☐ Low-confidence fallback fires on mixed-language and ambiguous messages

☐ Glossary terms and plan names appear untranslated in every language

☐ Human handoff passes language, full history, and customer details with no repetition