# Configure languages and missing translations

> Choose business languages, order additional languages, review translation completeness, and safely disable a language.

Language: en-US. Product guide: https://customer.help/help/languages/.

Reviewed by Customer Help Product Support on July 23, 2026. Verified for release 2026.07.

<span id="portal-languages"></span> Customer Help supports English (United States), shown as `en-US`, and Spanish (Mexico), shown as `es-MX`. Your business's public languages, each user's portal language, a visitor's language choice, and time zones are separate settings.

## Business primary language

<span id="language-business-primary"></span> **Business primary language** is the default for company, brand, location, holiday, widget, and other customer-facing text. It is always published and cannot be cleared. Before changing it, review every translation and public page so incomplete content does not appear in the wrong language.

## Secondary languages and order

<span id="language-business-published"></span> **Published business languages** controls which additional languages customers can select. Check a language to offer it publicly, then use the up/down controls to set its order after the primary language. Publishing a language does not translate content; any missing text appears in the primary language.

Disabling a secondary language removes it from public language selection without deleting saved translations or profile preferences. Re-enabling it restores the saved content.

## Deterministic public URLs

The primary business language always uses the public URL without a language prefix. Only a non-primary language adds a prefix:

| Language when non-primary | Prefix | Brand example | Location example |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Spanish (Mexico) | `/es` | `/es/north-star` | `/es/north-star/locations/<location-id>` |
| English (United States) | `/en` | `/en/north-star` | `/en/north-star/locations/<location-id>` |

The same rule applies on an active primary custom domain. Its default brand uses `/` in the primary language and `/es/` or `/en/` in a non-primary language. Additional brands retain their page-link segment after the prefix.

Older links with `?lang=en-US` or `?lang=es-MX` permanently redirect to the corresponding deterministic URL. Each published version identifies its own canonical URL and reciprocal language alternatives. Browser preference and a previous language choice can guide visitors to a language, but they do not create another canonical version of the same clean URL.

Changing the business primary language changes which version is unprefixed. Review bookmarks, campaigns, custom-domain links, and both language versions after saving; compatible old forms redirect, but search engines can take time to process the new canonical relationship.

On Customer Help product marketing pages, the visible **English** and **Español** links keep the visitor on the equivalent page when that translation is published. For example, `/privacy` changes to `/es/privacy`, and `/es/features/website-chat` changes to `/features/website-chat`; the language link does not return the visitor to a language homepage.

<span id="language-completeness"></span>

## Translation completeness

Each row shows translated fields out of the total fields that contain primary-language content, along with a percentage and the number that still use the primary language. The count includes company name, tagline, and description; brand name, tagline, description, logo, and main page text; location names; and holiday name and note. Other translated areas show their own status.

**100%** means all counted fields have content in that language. It does not prove translation quality, link validity, cultural appropriateness, or that every optional feature has translated text. Review with a qualified speaker.

<span id="language-save"></span>

## Save and verify

Select **Save changes**, then open every brand and location page at each enabled language URL. A language selected in the page or shared link takes priority. Otherwise, Customer Help uses the visitor's previous choice, browser preference, and then the business primary language. A visitor's choice does not change your portal.

<span id="profile-portal-locale"></span>
<span id="profile-time-zone"></span>

## User language and time zone

In Profile, **Portal language** changes the interface for one user. **Time zone** controls how portal dates and times appear to that user. Neither changes customer-facing translations or a location's schedule time zone. The initial user time zone is UTC until it is changed.

The portal loads interface language catalogs on demand. English loads when the English interface is active; when Spanish is active or selected, the browser requests the English fallback and Spanish catalogs together. If a selected catalog cannot be downloaded, the current interface language remains active and Customer Help shows a warning. For a saved portal-language failure, open the profile menu and select **Try again** after connectivity is restored. For a new selection, select the language again. The failed download is not kept as a completed catalog.

## Permissions, billing, and visibility

Administrators manage business languages; each user manages personal regional preferences. Languages do not add a charge. Enabled languages and any primary-language text used in place of a missing translation are visible to customers. Disabling a language preserves its saved translations for later use.

## Troubleshooting

- **Spanish page shows English:** add the missing Spanish text, enable Spanish, save, and select Spanish on the public page.
- **Completeness is still below 100%:** review the fields still showing primary-language text and every translation tab that has original content.
- **Portal language changed but public page did not:** expected—these are separate preferences.
- **Time appears wrong:** review the user's time zone for portal times and the location's time zone for schedules and calendars.