Language setup
Hey. what is the best way to ensure chatbot answers in the same language as the user is using? I am having trouble setting it up - my chatbot keeps changing to different languages pretty randomly. Thanks for any tips
2 Replies
Here are a few reliable patterns teams use in Voiceflow to keep responses in the same language the user is writing in:
1. Add an explicit instruction in every AI Step (or in a single System Prompt that you reference everywhere):
The LLM will follow that rule consistently—without it the model may occasionally switch languages when it sees multilingual content in your flow or KB. 2. Detect & store the user’s language once, then pass it to the prompt
• In a Code/Function step you can grab the first user message, run a simple language-detect call (e.g. to an external API) and save the result in a variable
• Pre-pend every AI prompt with something like:
3. Separate flows per language (deterministic option)
If you need full control over copy, buttons, cards, etc. create one sub-flow per language and route the user after you detect their locale. This also avoids the need to translate static text inside each step at runtime. 4. Remember the project language setting only affects default entities
The language you pick when you create the project controls the pre-built entity types, not the LLM’s output. So switching that setting will not force the AI to stay in one language. Why you’re seeing “random” switches
Without a clear prompt instruction the model tries to be helpful and may answer in English if it thinks the content in your KB or earlier prompts is English-dominant. The quick fix is to tighten the system prompt as in #1. Docs: https://docs.voiceflow.com (see “Languages” > "AI Responses")
The LLM will follow that rule consistently—without it the model may occasionally switch languages when it sees multilingual content in your flow or KB. 2. Detect & store the user’s language once, then pass it to the prompt
• In a Code/Function step you can grab the first user message, run a simple language-detect call (e.g. to an external API) and save the result in a variable
user_lang.• Pre-pend every AI prompt with something like:
3. Separate flows per language (deterministic option)
If you need full control over copy, buttons, cards, etc. create one sub-flow per language and route the user after you detect their locale. This also avoids the need to translate static text inside each step at runtime. 4. Remember the project language setting only affects default entities
The language you pick when you create the project controls the pre-built entity types, not the LLM’s output. So switching that setting will not force the AI to stay in one language. Why you’re seeing “random” switches
Without a clear prompt instruction the model tries to be helpful and may answer in English if it thinks the content in your KB or earlier prompts is English-dominant. The quick fix is to tighten the system prompt as in #1. Docs: https://docs.voiceflow.com (see “Languages” > "AI Responses")
This is also something I'm looking for. The website I'm creating an agent for is available in three languages. I'm filtering the chatbot's language using the URLs.
So, my agent can only speak three languages at the moment. Does anyone have a better solution for making the chatbot work in all languages?
I have already tried a lot but nothing is stable