Enabling a real-time translation provider for chatbots

By default, BMC Helix Chatbot supports English. Administrators can localize chatbot conversations so that end users can interact with the chatbot and the support agent in one of the supported locales. 

Administrators can localize chatbot conversations in the following ways:

• By enabling real-time translation. For more information about the scenario and benefits of this method, see Localizing chatbot conversations by using real-time translation. Follow the instructions in this topic to localize chatbot conversations by enabling real-time translation.
• By creating multiple IBM Watson Assistant Skills for each locale. For more information about the scenario and the workflow for creating multiple localized Skills, see Localizing chatbot conversations by using localized Chatbot Skills for each language.

Supported and unsupported scenarios for real-time translation

• Real-time translation providers—Google Cloud Translation Services version 2 and Microsoft Azure Translator Speech API version 3
  
  

  Note

  You can use the Google Translation API service for both—real-time translation and live chat translation.

• Chatbot channels—Real-time translation is supported by BMC Helix Chatbot, Skype for Business on-premises, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. 

  Note

  When using SMS to interact with BMC Helix Chatbot, end users can interact only in English.

• Supported locales

• To learn about unsupported scenarios in real-time translation, see What are the unsupported scenarios and limitations of real-time translation?

Before you begin

To enable a real-time translation provider

You can enable one of the following real-time translation providers:

To specify the translation provider in Centralized Configuration Settings

In BMC Helix Innovation Studio > Administration > Centralized Configuration Settings, you must specify one of the following values for Translation-Service-Provider setting:

• MICROSOFT—Microsoft Azure Translator Speech API

• GOOGLE—Google Cloud Translation Services

Learn more about  Updating centralized tenant configuration settings .

To configure the translation provider credentials

In BMC Helix Innovation Studio, enter the Google Translation Service API key or Microsoft Azure Translator Speech API key. 

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Administration tab. 
2. Select Configure My Server > Cognitive Service. 
3. On the Cognitive Service page, from the Configure list, select Cognitive Service Connections. 
4. Perform one of the following steps:

• If you are using Google Cloud Translation Services for real-time translation, click Google Translation for real-time translation. 

1. 1. In Google Cloud Service Key, enter the key in JSON format that you received when you created a service account . 
   2. Test and save the settings.

• If you are using Microsoft Azure Translator Speech API, click Microsoft Translator Text for real-time translation. 
  1. In Microsoft Azure API Key, enter the value you received earlier. 
  2. In Service URL, enter the appropriate  Azure base URL . 
  3. In OAuth URL, enter the endpoint URL.

  4. Test and save the settings.

To customize the real-time translation message displayed in the chatbot

If the user initiates a conversation in a language that is not supported by real-time translation, by default, the following message is displayed:

I have not been trained in your language but am able to translate on the fly. This may impact the quality of my responses.

If you want to change this message, complete the following steps:

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud account. 
2. Navigate to the IBM Watson Assistant Skills that is configured for BMC Helix Chatbot.
3. Click Dialog. 
4. Click the dialog node for the welcome message, and the click Add node. A new dialog node is added after the welcome message. 
5. In the right pane, type a name for the new dialog node. 
   Example: BMC Real-time translation message.

6. In Enter condition, set the following condition:

   $bmc_converse_using_translation_message==null

7. In Value corresponds to the $bmc_converse_using_translation_message variable, type the custom message. 
   Example: "I translate messages for you in real time."

   Note

   If the value of the $bmc_converse_using_translation_message variable is "" (empty string), the message is not displayed. 

8. In the Then Jump To section, select the node after the real-time translation node. 
   Example: If BMC-Start Over is the node after BMC Real-time translation message, specify BMC Start Over. 
   
   The following image shows an example of the conditions required for the new dialog node:
   
   
   
9. Save the dialog node. 

If the value of the $bmc_converse_using_translation_message context variable is null, the message is not displayed. 

Where to go from here