How to Break Language Barriers with Multilingual Chatbots

Natural language processing (NLP) is a very important phrase nowadays. Among other things, it enables AI bots to take better care of customer support. Indeed, chatbots are very good at responding to questions and requests, especially when they are low-stakes, easy ones. The more advanced a chatbot is, the more it can do without referring the client to a human support team. However, an important feature that is not always mentioned when talking about chatbots is that they can respond to questions and queries in different languages. Yes, multilingual chatbots are a thing, and they should be more popular!

Today, we want to discuss the chatbots that help bridge the gaps which language barriers create. What are the benefits, the pitfalls, and how can we best implement multilingual chatbots? Let’s discuss!

Types of Bots

Here, we should mention that not all bots use NLP. Here are the two main types of bots you can use.

• Rules-based. These bots only use if-then logic in the form of a set of rules that they follow. If a bot gets a specific request — for example, a particular word — it responds in a predetermined manner. These bots cannot do much, and they have to redirect to humans more often.
• AI-based. These bots use complex AI features (like NLP) to “understand” what the user says and respond in a human-like manner. These bots can handle more requests. 

You can use a rules-based chatbot and program it to respond to questions that are in some specific language. However, NLP is very helpful in creating multilingual chatbots.

What will limit us is not the possible evolution of technology, but the evolution of human purposes.

Stephen Wolfram, scientist

Benefits of Multilingual Chatbots

There are plenty of reasons to get a multilingual chatbot, but the main ones are concerned with customer experience and outreach. Indeed, when discussing why you should get such a bot, we would give the following answers.

• Improved customer experience. A lot of customers can use English, but many do not. For some of your clients, a multilingual bot is the only option since they can only use their native language. That makes multilingual bots essential. But even for people who can use English, the opportunity to use their mother tongue is often helpful. It makes the conversation more personalized as well. Happier customers mean more retention and conversion, as well as a better bottom line, which makes multilingual chatbots very useful.
• When talking about clients who cannot use English or any language other than their native one, we have to say that they might not become your customers without multilingual chatbots. Having customer support that offers multilingual help means a greater reach. More people will be able to become your customers if you have this advantage.
• While that is true for any chatbot, multilingual ones increase efficiency and reduce costs. It is still a good idea to have human staff so that the chatbot could redirect issues to them. However, with multilingual chatbots, you may offer more help in languages your support team does not understand. Chatbots also handle multiple conversations at once, which reduces wait times. Overall, every advantage of a chatbot is true for a multilingual one.

In the end, it is up to you to decide if a multilingual bot would be useful to you. Perhaps, you do not need extended reach, and your customers use one language. However, if you are a global company, multilingual bots can be a good idea.

Pitfalls of Multilingual Chatbots

Naturally, there are limitations to what chatbots can do, and you need to consider certain issues before you commit to getting a multilingual one.

• Investment in multilingual chatbots is substantial. However, you can adjust that price by limiting the features you get or selecting a younger, less experienced freelancer for a lower rate.
• AI needs to be trained to deal with local language differences, specific idioms, as well as generally be culturally sensitive. Without those qualities, which require additional work and resources, the point of having multilingual chatbots will be lost.
• Multilingual bots are only helpful if they are properly programmed and integrated. You can resolve the issue through more development and testing, but that comes at a cost.
• Not every customer is happy to talk to a chatbot. You will not be able to reach those customers without a human who speaks their language.

As long as you are willing to spend some money upfront for a potential competitive advantage later, multilingual bots are a good idea. But it is important to first make sure that you need this bot because otherwise, you might waste a lot of resources.

Recommendations

Let’s discuss some additional recommendations on multilingual chatbots.

• User experience is crucial for a chatbot that exists for customer support. You need to make sure that the chatbot is easy and convenient to use. 
• You should test your bot with native speakers. They will help you improve your chatbots and make them stay relevant, with fresh information about how the language in question is spoken. 
• You should get feedback from customers. It is easy to include a simple question at the end of communication. You can even limit the answer to a couple emojis that the user can click.
• When choosing the right technology for your multilingual chatbot, consider Conversational Agents by Google or IBM® watsonx™ Assistant. Both have been created by technology veterans and offer multilingual support. Keep in mind that not every bot development platform is meant to create multilingual chatbots.
• Remember to implement your multilingual chatbot just like any other. For example, it needs to be integrated with your systems, including the knowledge base. 

With these pieces of advice in mind, you are ready to make or order a great multilingual bot!

In Conclusion: The Future

It appears that chatbots are quite popular, especially in customer support. It likely means that using chatbots for this purpose will become widespread. With globalization, access to customers from other countries is also probably going to be more and more desirable. Therefore, multilingual chatbots are a helpful feature to start investing in now. With advances in NLP, these tools will also become better and better, improving the quality of customer support delivered by them. So start early and look into making chatbots that can help your clients in their native language!