Why translated help is worth doing
Customers follow steps more easily when the instructions are in the language they think in. Someone reading a help article in their second language may understand 'Select Save' perfectly well, but when they are halfway through a task, a clear sentence in their first language makes it far less likely they will stop and write in to support. When you translate product help articles, the aim is the same: fewer stalled tasks and fewer questions to your support team.
Translated help also tends to be read more often. If your product is used in Welsh, French, Polish or Urdu, a help article written in that language is more likely to be found, read to the end and acted on. That is the practical case for doing it, and it is the reason to plan the work properly rather than translating a few pages and hoping for the best.
Before you translate: tidy the English script first
The quality of a translation depends heavily on the English it starts from. Before you send anything for translation, tidy the script:
- Use short sentences. A sentence that carries one idea translates more reliably than one that carries three.
- Give each step one action. 'Open Settings, choose Billing and click Save' should be three steps, not one.
- Use consistent names for buttons. If the button says 'Save' in step two and 'Submit' in step five, the translator has to guess whether those are the same thing. Pick one name and use it everywhere.
- Remove idioms and jokes. Phrases like 'get the ball rolling' rarely survive translation intact.
This work pays off twice. A tidy script is easier to translate, and it is also easier for the English-speaking customer to follow.
Decide which languages to start with
It is tempting to translate into every language you can think of, but that spreads your review effort too thin. Start with the places your customers actually are. Useful evidence includes:
- the countries and regions where your current users are based
- the languages your support team already receives questions in
- the support tickets that mention confusion over a particular step
Once you have a short list, pick the first one or two languages and do them well. HandHoldly can translate into languages such as Welsh, French, Polish and Urdu, so you can add more later without rebuilding your content.
Keep on-screen button names in mind
Your product probably shows its buttons in English, which creates a question for every translated step: should the instruction refer to the original label, the translated label, or both?
There is no single right answer, but the choice should be deliberate:
- Original label only. This is the most accurate choice when the interface stays in English. A customer who reads 'Click Save' will see 'Save' on screen.
- Translated label only. This suits products that are fully localised. If the interface is in Welsh, the instruction should name the Welsh button.
- Both. For a mixed setup, saying 'Click Cadw (Save)' the first time a button appears can help people match the words to the screen.
Whichever you choose, use it consistently across the video, the live guide and the article, and check that the label in your text matches what the customer will actually see.
Translate the script once and reuse it across the video, the live guide and the help article
You do not need three separate translation projects. A single translated script can feed all three outputs: a narrated video, a live guided tour inside your web app, and a step-by-step help article. When you fix a line in the script, the change flows to each output, so the three stay in step with one another.
This matters most when the product changes. Keeping one source of truth for each language means your reviewer checks the wording once, rather than comparing three separate documents.
Choose a voice by listening to a sample before you commit
HandHoldly uses British voices by default, and you can choose a natural ElevenLabs voice after hearing a sample. Do this before you produce the full video. Play the sample with a real sentence from your script, not a test phrase, and listen for:
- whether the pace suits instructions the customer will follow on screen
- whether the pronunciation of product names and button labels is right
- whether the tone sounds calm and clear rather than rushed
Be realistic about voice quality. It varies by language, and a voice that sounds excellent in English may sound less natural in another. That is why a native speaker should check the finished result before it goes live. Treat the tool as a way to produce a strong first draft, not as a promise of perfect delivery.
Handling change: only the changed line needs re-voicing
Products change, and so does the wording that describes them. One of the most useful features for translated content is that when you change a single sentence, only that line needs to be re-voiced. You do not have to redo the whole video.
This works best with a routine. When an English line changes, update the translated line in the same session, check it with a reviewer, and re-voice just that line. Keep a simple note of which lines changed and when, so nobody in your team is working from an old version.
Nightly re-checks also help here. HandHoldly re-checks your steps every night, flags a step that no longer works, fires your webhooks and emails the owners, naming the step. A re-check flags a problem so that a person can act on it. It does not fix the step on its own, so the update still needs a human to make the change and check the translation.
Set a simple review routine
A translation is only as good as the check it gets. Agree the routine before you start, not after the first complaint. Cover four points:
- Who checks each language. Name one reviewer per language. A native speaker who knows your product is ideal. Where that is not possible, use someone fluent who has read the English script.
- How often. Check every new or changed script before release, and do a full review of all languages every few months.
- What they look for. Button names match the interface, sentences make sense as instructions, no meaning has been lost, and dates, numbers and units are right.
- What happens to their feedback. Decide who edits the line, who re-voices it and who confirms it is live.
Keep the routine short enough that people will actually follow it. A one-page note is usually enough.
Show the workflow in HandHoldly
Here is how the process looks in HandHoldly, from start to finish:
- Open your tidied English script and translate it into Welsh.
- Listen to the sample voice with a real sentence from the script, and choose the voice you want.
- Find the one line that needs a change, edit it, and check it with your Welsh reviewer.
- Re-voice only that line. The rest of the Welsh video stays as it was.
The same translated script then supports the live guide and the help article, so the Welsh version of your help stays consistent across all three.
Short checklist to copy
Use this list at the start of each translation project:
- [ ] Script ready: short sentences, one action per step, consistent button names
- [ ] Languages chosen: based on where your customers are and where your support questions come from
- [ ] Voices sampled: each language heard with a real sentence before you commit
- [ ] Reviewer named: one person per language, with a clear brief
- [ ] Update routine agreed: how often, who checks, and who re-voices changed lines
If you want to see how one script becomes a narrated video, a live guide and a help article, with translation in several languages, you can see how it works.