Help article translator

What does a help article translator do?

A help article translator turns a support or documentation article into another language while keeping its structure intact: headings stay headings, numbered steps stay numbered, links and code stay untouched. This one also keeps the terms you list, such as your product name or a button label, exactly as written. You get an article you can paste back into your help center instead of a block of translated text you have to format again.

Help content is a good fit for AI translation because it is plain, literal and repetitive. It still needs care with the few words that must match your product exactly.

How to translate knowledge base articles well

Decide what never gets translated

Product names, plan names and feature names usually stay in English. Put them in the terms field so they come back unchanged in every language.

Match the UI your readers see

If your app is localized, button labels in the article must match the translated interface. If it isn’t, keep the English labels so readers can find them on screen. Either way, be consistent across all articles.

Leave code, URLs and values alone

Commands, file names, URLs and anything a reader types must stay exactly as they are. Keep them in code formatting in your Markdown and the translator leaves them untouched.

Check dates, units and examples

Date formats, currencies and example names sometimes need adapting, not only translating. Read the result with the target reader in mind.

Which documentation translation approach fits?

Documentation translation is a trade-off between speed, cost and how much a mistake would hurt.

Which articles to translate first

1. Getting started and setup articles, where new users give up if they can’t follow along.
2. Your most-viewed articles. Your help center’s analytics show which ones they are.
3. Billing, account and login articles, which drive the most support tickets when they are unclear.
4. Everything else, in the languages your customers actually use.

A short example

An English step with “Settings” and “Members” in the terms field:

Open Settings → Members, click Invite and enter their email address.

Translated to Spanish, the terms stay as they are:

Abre Settings → Members, haz clic en Invitar e introduce su dirección de correo electrónico.

If your app’s Spanish interface says “Invitar”, that is right. If the button still says “Invite”, add it to the terms too.

Keeping translations in step with the original

A translated help center is only useful while it matches the product. Give every translated article the same owner as the original, and when you change the English version, translate the changed article again instead of patching a few lines by hand. Keep your terms list in one shared place so every translation uses the same words. Note the date of the last translation on each article, so you can see at a glance which languages fall behind after a release.

Common translation mistakes

• Translating UI labels that the reader sees in English on screen.
• Translating once and never again, so the translated article drifts away from the updated original.
• Forgetting screenshots and videos, which still show the original language.
• Publishing a language nobody on the team can check even roughly.

Treat the translation as a strong first draft and have someone who reads the language look over your most important articles.