Using Your Multilingual Virtual Assistant

The Ocelot Virtual Assistant currently supports three languages other than English; Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), and Vietnamese.

This section of the user guide is focused on how the multilingual virtual assistant works. To help you navigate the article we have broken it down into the following sections:

• How can a virtual assistant participant engage with the live assistant in another language?
• Viewing Multilingual Interactions and Transcripts
• Do I have to add new content to my virtual assistant in multiple languages?
• I asked my virtual assistant a question in another language but the response is in English.
• What is your language translation methodology?

How can a virtual assistant participant engage with the live assistant in another language?

If a virtual assistant user asks the virtual assistant a question in one of our supported languages, the virtual assistant will automatically respond in that language and the welcome message text will retroactively change to the language of the question asker. 

A virtual assistant conversation can also be manually switched to another language by using the globe icon at the top right-hand side of the conversation pane.

Note: The virtual assistant will respond in the supported language of the first question asked. If a virtual assistant user begins the conversation in English and then switches to another language the virtual assistant will not understand. 

To change the language after a conversation has started, the user will need to do the following: 
Clear conversation
Use the World Language Symbol
Select a language

Viewing Multilingual Interactions and Transcripts

If a virtual assistant participant engages with the virtual assistant in another language that interaction will be visible in that language on the interactions page. When you open the conversation by selecting the View Interaction button on the left-hand side the transcript will display in the language the conversation took place.

Do I have to add new content to my virtual assistant in multiple languages?

No, new content will automatically be translated into the languages your virtual assistant has enabled.

I asked my virtual assistant a question in another language but the response is in English.

First, confirm that your question was asked in one of the languages supported by the virtual assistant; Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), or Vietnamese. Next, if these languages are not working in your virtual assistant please contact your Client Success Manager to confirm that multilingual capabilities have been enabled for your virtual assistant. 

What is your language translation methodology?

Ocelot’s proprietary language algorithms score 52 (Spanish), 54 (Simplified Chinese), and 50.4 (Vietnamese) on the BiLingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU) evaluation rating. According to BLEU, scores of 50 - 60 mean that the translation is very high quality and fluent. 

Ocelot only pushes languages live once they score over 50. By comparison, automated translation services used by other virtual assistant providers (e.g. Google or Microsoft Translate) score in the 20s. Ocelot only pushes languages live once they score over 50, which enables institutions to create deeper access and equity for students and families, regardless of which language they speak. 

We have trained our AI with terminology consistent with the US Department of Education’s vocabulary so that when it comes to important topics like paying for and attending college, students and families can be confident that the information they receive from our virtual assistants is accurate and accessible. 

Once initiated, the language translation is instantaneous and not a separate knowledge base to maintain.

If you are interested in adding multilingual capabilities, please contact your Client Success Manager.