How language detection works
Vex detects the language of the visitor's first message and replies in that same language — automatically, across 100+ languages. You don't configure anything for this to work. The language switch happens mid-conversation too: if a visitor starts in English and switches to French, Vex follows.
What Vex can answer in each language
Vex can reply in any language it detects. Whether the reply is accurate depends on your knowledge sources:
- If your KB articles are in English and a visitor asks in German, Vex translates the question, searches your English content, and replies in German. This works well for most factual questions.
- If your KB articles are in the visitor's language, accuracy is usually higher because Vex doesn't need to bridge a translation step.
- Complex, nuanced questions with long KB articles see the most benefit from having articles in the visitor's language.
For multilingual teams: write key articles in your top languages
If you have a significant visitor base in a second or third language, write your most-visited KB articles in those languages too. Vex will preferentially retrieve a same-language article when one is available, which improves accuracy and citation relevance.
Yaplet's knowledge base supports multiple languages natively — you can publish the same article in English, Hungarian, German, and more from the same workspace.
Conversation starters in multiple languages
Conversation starters (the buttons that appear before a visitor sends their first message) are currently fixed in the language you write them. If most of your visitors use a single language, write the starters in that language. For a multilingual audience, write the starters in your most common language — Vex will still reply in the visitor's language once they write.
Language override (advanced)
If you want Vex to always reply in a specific language regardless of what the visitor writes — for example, always Spanish for a Spanish-market widget — add a rule in your custom instructions:
Always reply in Spanish, regardless of the language the visitor writes in.This overrides auto-detection for that chatbot entirely.
Next step
Vex also works on phone calls using the same language detection logic. See Vex on voice — same brain, voice surface.