In today's global business landscape, communication knows no borders. Being fortunate to work across intranets of all shapes and sizes, we see first-hand how SharePoint enables editors to deliver impactful and engaging content to colleagues around the globe.
Right out of the box, SharePoint offers robust multilingual capabilities designed specifically for international teams. Supporting as many as 50 languages, SharePoint empowers editors to ensure that every piece of content is accessible, no matter the language of the reader.
SharePoint’s native multilingual features at a glance
When it comes to multilingual content management, SharePoint provides some powerful native tools. We can manually translate pages and news posts, carefully shaping messages to capture the organizational tone. It allows us to deliver precise, culturally tailored communication - although we should keep in mind that this manual approach requires significant time and investment.
Then there’s SharePoint’s automatic handling of navigation elements and site information. Menus, titles, and site descriptions can naturally adapt based on each user’s preferred language. From an editor’s viewpoint, this feature ensures colleagues can navigate intranets easily and intuitively. SharePoint intelligently detects user’s preferred language and automatically guides them to the right content, saving our audience - and editors - unnecessary confusion. Plus, there’s always the option for users to navigate to other language versions of a page using SharePoint's built-language picker.
And let’s not forget SharePoint’s translation approval workflow. This allows our editing teams and designated approvers to collaborate effectively, ensuring each translated message maintains consistency, quality, and accuracy.
Together, these native features provide editors with a solid foundation for multilingual content management. But, as many of us have experienced, manual workflows can quickly become overwhelming as the scale and scope of content grow.
When manual translation falls short
While SharePoint’s native tools are powerful, manual translation workflows can quickly become unsustainable and impractical. Resource constraints, lack of internal linguistic expertise, or the sheer volume of content can quickly make manual translation feel like an impossible task. A task that nonetheless needs to be done!
It's exactly at this point we start looking for something to complement, rather than replace, our trusted multilingual SharePoint tools. We seek a solution that maintains SharePoint's strengths while addressing the challenges inherent in manual translation.
This is where an AI translation solution can help. Enter Translator for SharePoint by Accelerator 365 - a game-changing tool designed to complement SharePoint's native multilingual capabilities.
Translator for SharePoint: your multilingual companion
Imagine having a translation partner integrated seamlessly into your existing SharePoint publishing workflow, effectively removing the friction from multilingual content management. That’s precisely why Translator for SharePoint was created - to simplify the work of content editors and streamline multilingual publishing processes.
Translator for SharePoint provides seamless integration with existing SharePoint publishing and approval workflows. There is no disruption, no steep learning curve - just an intuitive process that complements how editors already manage and approve content.
Moreover, it leverages automation powered by Microsoft Azure AI Translator, delivering instant translations into all 50 SharePoint-supported languages. Suddenly, hours or even days spent on manual translations become seconds. Editors can shift their focus away from repetitive translation tasks and dedicate more energy to refining our original content and strategic messaging.
But automated translation isn’t only about speed. Translator for SharePoint also addresses the critical need for accuracy and customization. Through integration with Microsoft Custom Translator, we can easily incorporate company-specific terms, ensuring that our messaging remains consistent and accurate, without constant manual tweaking.
As security is always a top priority for editors, Translator for SharePoint was created with data protection and compliance in mind. Translations are securely handled within the organization's own SharePoint environment, ensuring that multilingual communications are not only efficient, but also protected according to the highest industry standards.
Native SharePoint vs Translator for SharePoint
| Feature | Native SharePoint | Translator for SharePoint |
| Translation approach | Manual | ✓ Automated |
| Translation speed | Dependent on editors | ✓ Instant |
| Scalability | Limited by resources | ✓ Highly scalable |
| Custom terminology support | Manual effort needed | ✓ Automated with dictionaries |
Optimizing your SharePoint multilingual experience
Effective multilingual communication isn’t just desirable - it’s essential. While SharePoint’s built-in capabilities offer an excellent starting point, moving beyond manual translations can be necessary as your global communication requirements evolve.
Translator for SharePoint offers editors a powerful, practical way to streamline translation management, reduce content publishing bottlenecks, and deliver an accurate, consistent multilingual intranet experience.
