agent applied aria-labels in the wrong language

Not specified by the original author.

agent applied aria-labels in the wrong language - how to fix it

TL;DR

This fixes the flagged violation at its source instead of silencing the rule. The agent wrote aria-labels in the wrong language, so screen readers mispronounce them. Follow the steps, re-run the scan, and gate the rule in CI so it stays fixed.

The error, verbatim

agent applied aria-labels in the wrong language

Fix it step by step

Step 1

Detect the page language from the html lang attribute before generating any labels.

Expected: the step completes with no new console errors and the flagged element changes as described.

Step 2

Generate labels in the page's language; fall back to asking when lang is missing.

Expected: the step completes with no new console errors and the flagged element changes as described.

Step 3

Set the page lang correctly first; mislabeled lang causes the same mispronunciation.

Expected: the step completes with no new console errors and the flagged element changes as described.

Step 4

Re-run the label pass and spot-check pronunciation.

Expected: the step completes with no new console errors and the flagged element changes as described.

When to use this skill

• Your scan report lists this exact rule or failure
• You are clearing automated accessibility failures before release or audit
• A CI accessibility gate is red because of this item

When NOT to use this skill

• An English label on a French page is a new violation wearing a fix costume.
• The issue only appears in manual screen-reader testing and no automated rule flags it
• You are doing a full manual WCAG audit; this skill covers one automated check

Compatibility

Agent workflow guardrail; page lang as the source of truth.

Variant phrasings

agent aria labels in wrong language

Same underlying issue and the same fix. Searchers phrase it different ways; the remediation does not change.

Why it happens

The agent wrote aria-labels in the wrong language, so screen readers mispronounce them. These violations repeat across pages built from the same templates or components, so fix the shared source once and re-scan the whole site to confirm the fix cleared every instance.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_CHUH8DQ-G6hL7hPayVu7Vw

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_CHUH8DQ-G6hL7hPayVu7Vw

Thread query: agent applied aria-labels in the wrong language

TL;DR: This fixes the flagged violation at its source instead of silencing the rule. The agent wrote aria-labels in the wrong language, so screen readers mispronounce them. Follow the steps, re-run the scan, and gate the rule in CI so it stays fixed.

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

Garbled translations usually mean the source language was misdetected: the agent thought English was Spanish, or a mixed-language ticket got one wrong label for the whole thing. Translating from the wrong source produces confident nonsense. The fix is explicit language detection per message, and never translating text that's already in the target language.

The query

translation agent garbled the reply: language detection fix

Use this when

• Translated replies come out garbled
• The agent translates already-English text into broken English
• Mixed-language tickets confuse the translator

Not for

• Translation quality or style debates
• Human translator workflows
• Terminology glossary management

Steps

1. Detect language per message, not per ticket

Run language detection on each message independently. Tickets mix languages constantly: the customer writes Spanish, the agent's macro is English, the customer replies in Spanglish. One label per ticket is always wrong for someone.

Expected output: a per-message language label on every translated message.

2. Skip translation when source equals target

If the detected source language is already the reply language, don't translate. Round-tripping English through a translator is how 'already-English' becomes garbled English. Detection first, translation only on mismatch.

Expected output: no translation applied when source matches target.

3. Set a confidence floor for detection

Short messages ('ok', 'gracias') detect unreliably. Below a confidence threshold, keep the original and flag for human review instead of guessing. A wrong guess garbles; a flag just waits.

Expected output: low-confidence messages flagged, not translated.

4. Log source, target, and confidence

Record the detected source language, target, and confidence with every translation. When garbling is reported, the log shows whether detection or translation was at fault, and you fix the right stage.

Expected output: translation logs carrying language pair and confidence.

Variant phrasings

ai translation wrong language

Steps 1 and 2: per-message detection, skip on match.

chatbot garbled translated reply

Step 4's logs distinguish detection faults from translation faults.

Why it happens

Translation pipelines assume one source language per input, but support conversations are multilingual by nature. The detector picks the majority language, the minority-language messages get translated from the wrong source, and the output is fluent garbage. Per-message detection costs little and fixes the whole class.

Edge cases

• Proper nouns and product names shouldn't be translated. Keep an exclusion list.
• Right-to-left languages need UI handling beyond the translation itself.
• Machine translation of legal or compliance text needs human review. Never auto-send those.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_zCGWqXh8nWzKVL-Zlil9Yw

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_zCGWqXh8nWzKVL-Zlil9Yw

Thread query: translation agent garbled the reply: language detection fix

TL;DR: Garbled translations usually mean the source language was misdetected: the agent thought English was Spanish, or a mixed-language ticket got one wrong label for the whole thing. Translating from the wrong source produces confident nonsense. The fix is explicit language detection per message, and never translating text that's already in the target language.

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

Fix this in Intercom by acting on the exact symptom first: set the fallback chain for each locale to the nearest translated version before English, detect the locale from the reader language setting, and test with a reader whose language has a partial translation. Do not repeat the same edit, search or run unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one article, collection or query first, then apply it across the affected scope and confirm as a reader.

Intercom multilingual help center fallback serves English instead of the reader locale

Use this when

• Work in Intercom shows this exact symptom: Intercom multilingual help center fallback serves English instead of the reader locale.
• The same symptom repeats after a retry with unchanged inputs.
• Readers or support agents are blocked until this item is corrected.

Not for this skill when

• The help center platform itself is down or returning outage notices. Resolve that first, then return here if this symptom remains.
• The content is correct and you only want a style or tone rewrite. That is an editorial pass, not this fix.

Steps

1. Reproduce the symptom with the smallest scope that still shows it in Intercom, and record the article, collection or query involved plus the exact wording from the code block above. Verify: the symptom is reproduced on demand with a named scope, not only reported second hand.
2. Apply the specific fix for this symptom: set the fallback chain for each locale to the nearest translated version before English, detect the locale from the reader language setting, and test with a reader whose language has a partial translation. Verify: the smallest failing scope now behaves as the fix predicts, checked in the published view rather than only in the editor.
3. Check neighbouring articles, collections or locales that share the same template, category or workflow, because this class of problem rarely affects only one item. Verify: the neighbouring items are listed and each is marked affected or clear.
4. Repeat the original reader or agent action in Intercom that exposed the symptom, using the same query, link or workflow as the first attempt. Verify: the action completes and the original symptom does not appear.
5. Compare the result against the source of truth for this item, the current product behaviour, price list, release notes or ticket evidence named in the fix. Verify: the published result matches the source or every difference is named and explained.
6. Record the fix, the scope it covered and the verification result where the content team works, so the next occurrence is recognised immediately. Verify: the record names the symptom, the fix applied and the evidence of success.

Variant phrasings

Intercom multilingual help center fallback serves English instead of the reader locale

The verbatim form readers and agents paste from the help center or console. Treat it identically: same fix, same single scope proof, then the wider rollout.

How to fix - Intercom multilingual help center fallback serves English instead of reader locale

The how to phrasing for the same problem in Intercom. The steps above apply unchanged; start at the reproduction step rather than skipping to the final check.

Intercom troubleshooting for this symptom

The symptom first phrasing used when the full message is hidden. Surface the full symptom first, confirm it matches the code block above, then follow the steps.

Why it happens

The fallback order was configured with English first, so any article missing a full locale version fell back to English even when a closer translation existed.

Edge cases

• The symptom appears in one locale, collection or audience view only. Fix that scope, then check the same item in the other views before closing.
• A cached or indexed copy keeps showing the old state after the fix. Allow for the platform reindex or cache window, recheck in a fresh reader session, and only then escalate.
• Two items have near identical titles. Confirm the identifier of the item you edited, not just its title, before declaring the fix verified.

Compatibility: Intercom at current versions, plus the help center admin, search or API surface the query names; no extra tooling beyond reader level access to verify the published result.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_l5B0OeuLxu4-QODlxk1O-w

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_l5B0OeuLxu4-QODlxk1O-w

Thread query: Intercom multilingual help center fallback serves English instead of reader locale

TL;DR: Fix this in Intercom by acting on the exact symptom first: set the fallback chain for each locale to the nearest translated version before English, detect the locale from the reader language setting, and test with a reader whose language has a partial translation. Do not repeat the same edit, search or run unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one article, collection or query first, then apply it across the affected scope and confirm as a reader.