Why translating help content is more than swapping words
Translating a help article is not just a matter of replacing English sentences with French or Welsh ones. Your screenshot may show a button labelled "Save", while a reader in Paris sees "Enregistrer" on their own screen. If the text says "click Save" above a picture of a different label, the reader stops trusting the page. Tone matters as well. A cheerful "Let's get started!" can read well in one language and feel out of place in another.
So when you translate, look at three things alongside the words: the screenshots, the button labels and the tone. Each one needs a check before you publish.
Step 1: Get the English script settled first
The easiest mistake to make is translating too early. If you translate a script, then the product changes next week, you have to translate the new wording again, and the old translation becomes a loose end.
Before you start, do three things in English:
- Walk through the process in the product and confirm each step still works.
- Read the script aloud and cut anything vague, such as "sort it out" or "the usual place".
- Check that every button name in the script matches what is on screen today.
When the English is stable, you have something solid to translate.
Step 2: Pick your languages, starting with where your customers are
Do not start with a list of every language you would like to offer. Start with the readers you already have. Look at where your customers are, which languages your support emails arrive in, and which regions use your product most. A small, well-chosen set is easier to maintain than a long list you cannot keep in step.
HandHoldly lets you translate into languages such as Welsh, French, Polish and Urdu. Choosing between them is a practical question, not a matter of prestige. If a quarter of your support questions come from Polish-speaking customers, Polish is a sensible place to begin.
For each language, decide early who will check the text. A native speaker who knows your product is the best option. If that is not possible, use a trusted colleague or contractor, and be clear that they are reviewing wording, not rewriting the product.
Step 3: Check the translated script sentence by sentence
No translation is perfect, and a fluent-sounding sentence can still be wrong. Read the translated script one sentence at a time, against the English original, and ask:
- Does this sentence say the same thing as the English?
- Does every button or menu name match the label on the screen in this language?
- Would a reader in this language understand the instruction on first reading?
- Is the tone right for a help article, not too casual and not stiff?
Keep a short list of terms that must stay consistent, such as the name of a feature or a menu. If "workspace" becomes three different words across one article, readers will wonder whether they are looking at three different things.
If you use AI to draft a first version, treat it as a starting point for a person to check. The draft still needs a reader who knows the product and the language.
Step 4: Listen to a voice sample before you choose a voice
If your walkthrough includes a narrated video, the voice is part of the translation. Do not choose one by reading the name of the voice. Listen to a sample first, using a sentence from your own script.
Listen for the things a customer will notice: whether the pace suits an instruction, whether the stress falls on the right word, and whether the voice sounds calm rather than rushed. HandHoldly uses British voices by default, and you can choose a natural voice for each language after hearing a sample. Even so, listen before you commit, because voice quality varies between languages and no voice will be perfect for every sentence.
Keep a note of which voice you picked for each language, so the next person who updates the video uses the same one.
Step 5: Keep the video, live guide and article in step by using one script as the source
The biggest risk in multilingual help is drift. The video says one thing, the article another, and the in-app guide a third. The fix is to treat one script as the source for every output.
HandHoldly works this way. One script produces a narrated video, a live guided tour inside your app and a step-by-step help article. When you translate the script, the three outputs are built from the same translated wording, so they stay in agreement. Personal data is blurred in the video, screenshots and article, so check the blurred version in each language before you publish, and make sure the blurring still covers what it should.
Without a single source, you have to remember to update three places every time. With one, you update the script and check the result.
Changing one sentence later: only that line is re-voiced
Products change. A menu moves, a label is renamed, or a step gets an extra confirmation. You do not want to re-record the whole video for a small edit.
In HandHoldly, when you change one sentence in a translated script, only that line is re-voiced. The rest of the recording stays as it is. That keeps small fixes quick, and it means you can correct a line without a full translation or recording session.
The same discipline applies to your translation process. When you change an English sentence, mark the matching sentence in each translated version as out of date, so a reviewer knows to look at it.
A simple review routine for when your product changes
Translations go out of step when nobody owns the review. Set a routine that anyone on your team can follow:
- When a feature changes, update the English script first, and note which sentences and screenshots are affected.
- Mark the matching lines in every translated script as needing review.
- Ask your reviewer for each language to check only the marked lines, along with any button names that changed.
- Re-voice only the changed lines in the video, and update the live guide and article from the same script.
- Read the finished outputs in each language, from start to finish, once before you publish.
- Keep a short log of what changed and when, so the next update is easier.
A monthly check of your most-used guides is also worth adding, even when nothing has been reported. It catches wording that has gone stale before a customer does.
Short recap and a worked example
Here is a simple example. Suppose you have a script called "Export a monthly report" with six steps. You write it in English, check each button name against the product, and then translate it into French and Welsh.
From that one script, you produce:
- A narrated video in English, French and Welsh, each with a voice you have chosen after hearing a sample.
- A live guide inside your app in the same three languages, showing the same steps in the same order.
- A step-by-step help article in the same three languages, with screenshots that show the button labels in each language.
That is three outputs in three languages from one script. Later, when the export button moves, you change one step in the English script. You mark the matching lines in the French and Welsh versions, have each reviewer check them, and re-voice only the changed lines. Everything else stays as it was.
The method does not remove the need for checking. It makes checking smaller and easier to repeat, because the wording lives in one place.
If you want to see how one script becomes a video, a live guide and an article, see how it works. Look at the outputs side by side, and judge the results for yourself.