Chatbox language options

When you sign up for an Olark account, you'll be prompted to choose your default language. If your language is not supported or you want to use multiple languages this article will show you how.

If you only need to support one language at a time, all of the chat text can be changed on the Setup section of your Olark dashboard. Note that changing the language setting on the Setup page will undo any changes you've made in the text boxes, so make sure to select your language before making any customizations. Localization calls like olark.configure('system.localization', '...') will take precedence over changes you make on the Setup page.

You can configure your chatbox to use default text in various languages by adding this line to your Olark code snippet.

/* custom configuration goes here (www.olark.com/documentation) */
olark.configure("system.localization", "en-US");

We support the following languages:

olark.configure("system.localization", "en-US"); // English (United States)
olark.configure("system.localization", "de-DE"); // Deutsch (Deutschland)
olark.configure("system.localization", "es-ES"); // Spanish (Spain)
olark.configure("system.localization", "fr-FR"); // Français (France)
olark.configure("system.localization", "it-IT"); // Italian (Italy)
olark.configure("system.localization", "nl-NL"); // Dutch (Netherlands)
olark.configure("system.localization", "pt-BR"); // Portuguese (Brazilian)
olark.configure("system.localization", "ru-RU"); // Russian (Russia)
olark.configure("system.localization", "sv-SE"); // Swedish (Sweden)
olark.configure("system.localization", "tr-TR"); // Turkish (Turkey)
olark.configure("system.localization", "zh-CN"); // 简体中文（中国）

Where text is part of the user interface that either performs an action (e.g. button text) or is part of a form control (e.g. placeholder text on an input field), the string is not configurable. For unsupported languages, users can write API calls for every text string in the chatbox, including action buttons and some form controls.

Where text provides information to the user specific to your website, strings can be changed on the Settings page. This includes placeholder text in pre-chat and offline message forms.

For multiple language support, you'll need to write some server-side code to decide which language to display. If you find yourself staring blankly at the screen having just read the words "server-side code", ask your web developer. Use any or all of the following Javascript API commands by inserting them into your existing Olark embed code where it says "custom configuration goes here (www.olark.com/documentation)"")

Online Chatbox

If you would like to modify the text for the online chatbox:

/* custom configuration goes here (www.olark.com/documentation) */
olark.configure("locale.welcome_title", "Chat with us");
olark.configure("locale.chatting_title", "Chat with us");
olark.configure("locale.welcome_message", "Have a question? We'd love to help.");
olark.configure("locale.chat_input_text", "Type a message...");
olark.configure("locale.ended_chat_message", "Have a question? This conversation has ended. You can start a new chat by sending another message if you like. Thanks for stopping by to chat with us. Come back again anytime.");
olark.configure("locale.end_chat_button_text", "End chat");

Offline Chatbox

If you would like to modify the text for the offline chatbox:

/* custom configuration goes here (www.olark.com/documentation) */
olark.configure("locale.unavailable_title", "Need help?");
olark.configure("locale.away_message", "We're not around but please leave us a message");
olark.configure("locale.name_input_text", "Click here and type your name");
olark.configure("locale.email_input_text", "Click here and type your email");
olark.configure("locale.phone_input_text", "Click here and type your phone number");
olark.configure("locale.offline_note_message", "Have a question about Olark live chat or a Support Query? To speed up the process please give us as much info about your issue as you can. ");
olark.configure("locale.send_button_text", "Send");
olark.configure("locale.offline_note_thankyou_text", "Thank you for your message.  We will get back to you as soon as we can.");
olark.configure("locale.offline_note_error_text", "You must complete all fields and specify a valid email address");

Pre-Chat Survey

If you would like to modify the text on the widget for your Pre-Chat Survey:

/* custom configuration goes here (www.olark.com/documentation) */
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_submit_button_text", "Start chatting");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_next_button_text", "Next");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_welcome_message", "Hi! Let’s get some quick info so we can better serve you:");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_name_label", "Name");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_name_placeholder", "Enter your name...");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_email_label", "Email");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_email_placeholder", "Enter your email...");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_phone_label", "Phone");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_phone_placeholder", "Enter your phone number...");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_website_label", "Website");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_survey_website_placeholder", "Enter your website...");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_required_error_message", "Please complete all required fields");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_email_validation_message", "Please enter a valid email address");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_phone_validation_message", "Please enter a valid phone number");
olark.configure("locale.prechat_website_validation_message", "Please enter a valid URL");

Offline message form

If you would like to modify the text on the widget for your offline message email form:

olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_submit_button_text", "Send");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_next_button_text", "Next");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_thank_you_message", "Thanks for your message! We will have a member of our team contact you shortly.");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_welcome_message", "We're not around but we still want to hear from you! Leave us a note:");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_name_label", "Name");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_name_placeholder", "Enter your name...");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_email_label", "Email");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_email_placeholder", "Enter your email...");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_phone_label", "Phone");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_phone_placeholder", "Enter your phone number...");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_website_label", "Website");
olark.configure("locale.offline_survey_website_placeholder", "Enter your website...");
olark.configure("locale.offline_required_error_message", "Please complete all required fields");
olark.configure("locale.offline_email_validation_message", "Please enter a valid email address");
olark.configure("locale.offline_phone_validation_message", "Please enter a valid phone number");
olark.configure("locale.offline_website_validation_message", "Please enter a valid URL");

Greeter

If you use our Greeter feature, you can also make translated versions of your welcome messages using this JavaScript code:

/* custom configuration goes here (www.olark.com/documentation) */
olark.configure("WelcomeAssist.welcome_messages", ["Bienvenidos a nuestro sitio!"]);

Chat Ratings

It is possible to modify the Chat Ratings questions for your language by translating the strings below. We have learned that surveys are hard - the way you ask questions will affect the way people answer them. We have tested out multiple iterations of questions and have curated the ones with the most useful data. For that reason we have focused on the quality of people’s interactions and not allowed questions to be customizable at present. This also means we can display the data collected in a meaningful way. While you can localize the language strings if you need to, we recommend against changing the context of the questions.

/* custom configuration goes here (www.olark.com/documentation) */
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_chat_text', 'How satisfied were you with this chat?');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_operator_intelligence_text', 'How knowledgeable was the chat agent?');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_operator_speed_text', 'How responsive was the chat agent?');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_operator_attitude_text', 'How friendly was the chat agent?');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_1_text', 'Question 1 of 5');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_2_text', 'Question 2 of 5');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_3_text', 'Question 3 of 5');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_4_text', 'Question 4 of 5');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_5_text', 'Question 5 of 5');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_chat_low', 'Not at all satisfied');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_chat_high', 'Extremely satisfied');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_operator_intelligence_low', 'Not at all knowledgeable');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_operator_intelligence_high', 'Extremely knowledgeable');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_operator_speed_low', 'Not at all responsive');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_operator_speed_high', 'Extremely responsive');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_operator_attitude_low', 'Not at all friendly');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_operator_attitude_high', 'Extremely friendly');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_question_additional_feedback_text', 'Additional feedback.');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_button_next', 'Next');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_button_submitting', 'Submitting');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_button_finish', 'Finish');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_end_message', 'Thank you for your feedback');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_submission_error_message', 'There was an error submitting your answer, please try again.');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_begin_button_text', 'Rate chat');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_complete_button_text', 'Done');
olark.configure('locale.feedback_survey_cancel_text', 'Cancel');
olark.configure('locale.restart_chat_online_button_text', 'Start Chatting');
olark.configure('locale.restart_chat_offline_button_text', 'Email');

Send Transcripts

If you would like to modify the text on the widget for the Send Transcripts flow:

olark.configure('locale.send_transcript_title_text', 'Send transcript');
olark.configure('locale.send_transcript_begin_button_text', 'Send transcript');
olark.configure('locale.send_transcript_complete_button_text', 'Transcript sent!');
olark.configure('locale.send_transcript_error_text', 'There was an error sending this transcript');
olark.configure('locale.send_transcript_cancel_text', 'Cancel');
olark.configure('locale.send_transcript_placeholder', 'Click here and enter your email');

GDPR Consent

If you have enabled a GDPR-related consent message in the chatbox and would like to modify the text of the message per page:

olark.configure('locale.gdpr_consent_text', 'This is my customized consent message.');

You can also dynamically change the chatbox language after the chatbox loads by using our api call olark('api.box.setLocale', 'en-US'). Read more about it in our API docs.

Don't forget to read our guide on support for right-to-left languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew.

Live Chat Translation

Need to quickly translate conversations in different languages for your agents? We offer our Live Chat Translation PowerUp to communicate with your visitors from around the world. With our Translation PowerUp, your agents will be able to change their own languages and/or visitor languages in real time. Please visit our Live Chat Translation PowerUp page for more information!