Platform access level: Org Admins, Managers, and Writers (anyone who builds courses).
Help more learners take the same course in the language they work in. With Course languages, one course holds every language version, so you can add a language with AI translation, review it, turn it on, and Arist delivers each learner the version in their language when the course offers it.
The editor header shows which language you are editing. The Outline also shows how many of the course's languages are ready for learners.
1. Open the Course languages panel
Every language decision for a course lives in one panel, and you can open it in two places in the editor.
The header dropdown: Select the language dropdown in the editor header, beside Actions, then select Manage translations at the bottom of the list. The list shows the default language marked (Default), plus every language the course has started, each with its status.
The Outline chip: Select the chip at the top of the Outline, for example 1/1 languages ready. It turns green when every language on the course is ready.
The Course languages panel manages the languages learners can complete this course in.
Default language: This is the version learners get when they do not have a language preference, and it locks once the course has translations or enrolled learners, so choose it before you translate.
Available languages: This block shows one row per language with its status and a toggle that offers it to learners, and the count beside the heading, for example 1 of 2 ready, shows how many languages learners can take the course in right now, because a language must be complete and free of content errors before it can be offered.
Add languages: Select Add languages to open the AI translation assistant.
Note: Surveys and nudges use the same dropdown and panel, headed Survey languages and Nudge languages.
2. Add languages with the AI translation assistant
Select Add languages in the panel to open the AI translation assistant as a chat, which walks through language, terminology, and style choices before it starts translating.
Type your answers into the reply box, the assistant asks three things.
Which languages: Enter up to 3 languages per run, for example Spanish and French. If you need more than 3, start another run from Manage translations once the first finishes. A language already on the course cannot be requested again.
SMS or WhatsApp: If your organization delivers over SMS or WhatsApp, the assistant asks whether this course will be sent over either one. Answering yes keeps the translation inside tighter character limits, so it is worth reviewing a compliant translation carefully.
Style and terminology: The assistant asks a couple of quick questions, such as whether learners should be addressed formally or informally, or whether a term such as AI should be translated or kept as-is.
When the assistant replies Your translation is underway., the run has started and the new languages appear as rows in the panel with their toggles locked until the run finishes. If you leave the chat before that reply, the panel remembers it. Select Reopen the AI translation assistant to pick up where you left off.
Your organization's Translation instructions and Content guidelines apply to every translation, and the terminology you answer in the chat adds to that for this run only. See Setting Up Translation Instructions and Setting Up Content Guidelines.
A language stays on the course once you add it. To stop offering it, turn its toggle off in the panel.
Note: If you are a Writer, you see a language picker instead of the assistant. Choose up to 3 languages under New languages, set SMS/WhatsApp Compliance to Yes when the course goes out over SMS or WhatsApp, and select Translate.
3. Review each language and turn it on
A finished translation is not offered to learners until you turn it on, so the panel is where a language goes from translated to live.
While a translation runs, its toggle is locked and you cannot open that language from the header dropdown. When it finishes, the editor flashes that the translation is ready to review, the chat posts one line naming the language, and the row reads Needs review. If it does not complete cleanly, the editor instead points you back to Manage translations.
A row can instead finish as Needs attention, which means the language is incomplete or has content errors. Its toggle stays locked, with the tooltip Complete this language and fix its content errors, then enable it for learners. Open that language, then complete or correct it there, as section 4 describes.
Choose the language from the header dropdown to read it in the editor. Read it as a learner would and check anything culturally specific. For the full review checklist, see Translating an Existing Course.
Fix anything you find directly in that language version, as the next section describes.
Back in the panel, turn that row's toggle on. For example, Spanish asks Offer Spanish to learners? Once you turn it on, the row reads Ready, and learners can be enrolled in that language from then on.
The default language's toggle always stays on, so it is always offered. Under each other row, Arist shows how many learners are active in that language. If you turn a language off, that count changes to the learners who will finish in it, so nobody new is enrolled in that language and learners already in it complete the course in it.
Status | What it means |
Ready | The language is turned on and offered to learners. |
Needs review | The translation is complete and valid, but it is not offered until you review it and turn it on. |
Translating | While the translation runs, the toggle stays locked and the language cannot be opened from the header dropdown. A run can resolve straight to its finished status without Translating ever appearing on screen. |
Out of sync | The default text changed after this translation, but the language stays offered; section 5 covers how to refresh it. |
Needs attention | The language is incomplete or has content errors, so you need to complete or correct it before you can turn it on. |
Not started | No translation has run for this language yet. |
4. Edit a language version
Every language version is edited in the same editor, so you fix a translation the same way you fix the original.
Choose Spanish from the header dropdown to switch every field to that language's text in place. The editor flashes Now editing Spanish, so check the header before you type.
Structure is shared: Lessons, blocks, and their order stay the same in every version. If you add, remove, or reorder a lesson, that change applies to every language, and only the text and text-bearing images are per language.
Not translated: This field has never been translated. You can type the text directly, or re-sync the whole language from the panel, because only a whole-language run fills a field that was never translated.
Out of sync: The default text changed since this field was translated. Select Re-sync with English beside the field to replace it with a fresh translation of the current default, or edit the text by hand.
Needs attention: A translation can finish Needs attention because the translated text ran over a character limit. This is ordinary for a language that runs longer than the original. In Spanish, you see a red banner that says Español (Spanish) needs attention. Complete each step and fix content errors before this language can be included. and a Go to first issue link. You also see warning triangles in the Outline on each affected lesson and beside the offending block, plus the field's red character counter above the limit and the red line Combined character limit exceeded. If the issue is on a lesson Body or a question Question prompt, select Optimize length beside the field, then choose Replace existing content so the shortened text replaces the current text and clears the error. If an over-limit multiple-choice answer needs attention, shorten that answer by hand, because Optimize length does not appear on answers. When you clear every over-limit field, the row changes from Needs attention to Needs review and the toggle unlocks.
Images: If you regenerate an image while a language version is open, only that language's image is regenerated, so the labels stay matched to the lesson beside it.
A banner at the top of an out-of-sync language version carries the same Re-sync with English link.
5. Keep translations in sync after you change the default text
Changing the default text does not take a language away from learners. It marks the translation for a refresh, and you choose when to run it.
When you edit the default-language text, each translated language reads Out of sync in the panel and on the changed fields.
You can re-sync at three levels. The first is one field, with the Re-sync with English link beside it, as covered in section 4. The second is one language, with Re-sync on its row in the panel.
For every out-of-sync language at once, use the course-wide option. Select Sync all translations on the default language's row, tick the languages to refresh in the Sync translations with English window, and select Sync translations.
Re-syncing pushes the latest English updates into the translation. Text is re-translated, text-bearing images are regenerated, and other media carries over. It overwrites the existing translated text in what it updates, so make any hand edits in that language after you re-sync, not before.
Important: Adding text where the default was blank, adding a new lesson, or Arist's daily content check can disable an already-enabled language, and turning it back on is always your action, never automatic.
6. Deliver the course in every language
A multi-language course is scheduled once, and each learner is enrolled in the language that fits them.
Available languages field: On the schedule form, this field lists every language you have turned on, with the default first. There is no per-schedule choice: the languages offered are the ones toggled on in the Course languages panel, and Manage languages on the form opens that panel.
Ready to schedule window: If some languages are not ready yet, this window tells you how many of the course's languages learners can take it in and lists the rest under Not included yet. Select Continue to scheduling to proceed, then turn those languages on later so learners can enroll in them once they are offered.
Each enrollment is delivered in one language, and Arist checks three things, in this order:
A language chosen for the enrollment: A learner can choose it during self-enrollment, or an Org Admin or Manager can change that enrollment's language directly.
The learner's profile Language: This applies only when the course offers it, and a variant such as French (Canada) falls back to French when only French is offered.
The course default: Otherwise, Arist uses the course default. The organization's own Language setting does not affect this order.
The Enroll learners review step adds a Language column so you can see which version each learner will receive before selecting Enroll, and a learner whose own language the course does not offer is listed in the default.
Setting a learner's Language: An Org Admin or Manager sets a learner's Language on their profile, and a CSV upload, survey logic, or an automation can set it too. Learners do not edit that field themselves. On a multi-language course, a learner can switch the language of one enrollment from Manage enrollment in Arist Messenger, only when the organization has Allow users to manage their own enrollments on. See Viewing and Managing Learners.
Analytics: Arist reports the course total with a breakdown for each language. The Language filter appears on the Analytics page when the content spans more than one language, the schedule's management page shows a per-language table, and the responses and enrollments exports carry a Language column. See Reviewing Analytics.
Note: If you do not see these language controls, reach out to your Arist Customer Success contact to turn Course languages on for your organization.
To share a translation with a reviewer outside Arist, choose Actions and then Download in the editor, then pick the languages, including ones still in review. Using the Content Editor covers the download window.
Try it: Enroll yourself in a test schedule, then use Change language on that enrollment to switch it, so you can experience the translated version the way a learner will.
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Note: Need help at any point? Reach out to your Arist Customer Success contact, or email [email protected].