Sana uses LLMs and translation engines to translate your content faster and more accurately than ever.
Key Translation Features
Sana's translation capability makes it easy to translate your content into multiple languages at once. Here's what you can do:
Translate into multiple languages simultaneously: Select all the languages you want and translate them together in one process saving time and effort.
Choose your translation method: Pick between different translation engines or AI-powered options. If you're not sure which to use, "Auto mode" will automatically select the best option for you.
Control how words are translated: Use the terminology feature to keep important words consistent. Make sure your company name, product names, or key terms stay exactly the way you want them across all languages.
Where to Find the Translation Feature:
In the editor view
Select the course you want to translate
Once in the editor view select to the 3 dot menu in the top right
Click Translate
How to Translate Your Content
Step 1: Start the Translation
Once in the editor view, click Translate to begin.
Step 2: Confirm Your Original Language
A pop-up window will appear asking you to confirm the language of your original content. Sana automatically detects the language, but we ask you to verify if it's correct language before moving forward.
Step 3: Choose Your Translation Settings
A new panel will open on the right side of your screen. Here's what you can do:
Basic Setup:
Select your languages - Click to choose all the languages you want to translate into at the same time.
Click Translate and you're done! Sana will use "Auto mode" to pick the best translation method.
Additional Options (If You Want More Control):
Add special terms (Terminology) - If there are words or phrases you don't want translated or want translated in a specific way, add them here. For example:
"Keep 'Sana' as 'Sana' in all languages" (don't translate brand names)
"Translate 'Onboarding' as 'Integração' in Portuguese"
You can add terms one at a time, or upload a CSV file with multiple terms at once.
Group as a course edition - Choose whether to keep all your translated versions organized together. This makes it easier to manage and switch between languages later.
Pick your translation engine - Choose how you want your content translated:
Auto mode - Sana automatically picks the best translation method for each language.
Translation engines - Uses professional translation tools (DeepL and Google Translate).
AI-powered translations - Uses LLMs for more natural, context-aware translations. (This option might take longer)
Step 4: Start Translating
Click Translate to start. A small notification box will appear showing that the translation is being created. You can keep working in Sana while this happens - no need to wait.
Step 5: Review Your Translations
Once the notification tells you the translations are complete, you can review them. Your translated content is ready to check and edit before publishing.
Step 6: Switch Between Languages
All your translated versions appear as separate course editions. You can easily switch between languages using the toggle in the sidebar, making it quick and simple to review and manage all your versions.
When translating content it is always duplicated so you still have the original content as before. We always advise you to proof read the translated courses before publishing them.
💡 Note: The limit for translation of courses is 102 400 characters. If your course is too long, you will be notified that the course is too long to be translated.
Terminology Glossary
The terminology feature (glossary) lets you control exactly how specific words and phrases are translated across your courses. This is especially useful for maintaining consistency with brand names, product names, and company-specific terminology.
When to Use Terminology
Use terminology in these situations:
Brand names - Keep your company name or product name the same in all languages (e.g., "Sana" stays "Sana" in French, Spanish, Japanese, etc.)
Product or feature names - Ensure consistent naming across all language versions
Company-specific terms - Control how your unique terminology is translated (e.g., a specific process name or internal term)
Technical terms - Make sure specialized words are translated consistently
Important phrases - Ensure key messaging stays consistent across languages
Job titles and roles - Control how titles appear in different languages
How to Add Terminology - One at a Time
When setting up your translation, look for Add terms
Click to add a new term
Enter the terms you want to control (in your source language)
Select Language - Choose if this applies to:
A specific language (like just French)
Any language - This term applies to all languages
If you selected a specific language, enter the translation for that term
If you selected Any language, toggle on "Keep the same in all languages" - This tells Sana not to translate this term at all
Click to save and repeat for other terms
Glossary CSV Import Format
You can also upload multiple terms at once using a CSV file. Here's how the CSV format works:
CSV Structure
The first row is the header, which contains language codes separated by semicolons.
The first column is always the source term (the word or phrase you want to control), and the remaining columns contain translations for each language.
Header Format
First column: The source term in your original language
Other columns: Use language codes (like en_US, fr_FR, zh_CN, sv, da_DK) or use global to apply a term to all languages
💡 Example 1: Terms with Specific Translations for Each Language
Row 1: en_US;fr_FR;zh_CN
Row 2: Program;Programme;程序
Row 3: Assessment;Évaluation;评估
Row 4: Learning Path;Parcours d'apprentissage;学习路径
💡Example 2: Terms to Keep the Same in All Languages (Using "global")
Use global in the header to indicate that a term should not be translated and stay the same across all languages. Leave the other columns empty:
Row 1: global;;;
Row 2: Sana;;;
Row 3: Learning Management System;;;
Row 4: Dashboard Widget;;;
FAQ
How does Sana handle course translation?
Sana offers the capability to translate courses in an instant using the Translate capability in the options of the course. During translation, Sana is able to preserve all the interactive blocks, polls, questions, images, text formatting, reflections, answer options, key takeways, branding and images when machine translating a course.
Once the translated course is ready (generally within 1-2 seconds) reviewers or collaborators can be added to that.
Can I translate into multiple languages at once?
Yes. You can select multiple languages in one go and translate everything at once. Your translated versions will be organized as separate course editions that you can easily switch between using the sidebar toggle.
Does Sana support XLIFF?
Sana does not support XLIFF. The courses in Sana are made of several interactive components and social components and Sana chose not to support XLIFF in the short term to not affect the innovation speed of the Sane Engineering team.
What technology does Sana use to translate content?
Sana works with three translation options:
Auto mode - Sana picks the best method for each language automatically. Best choice if you're not sure which to pick.
Translation engines - Uses professional translation tools (DeepL or Google Translate).
AI-powered translations - Uses advanced AI technology for more natural translations.
We really want to run our tools on a course export to ensure consistency of the translation. How can we do that?
You can use the export feature in Sana to export the machine translated version of the course in PDF. Once the PDF is analyzed or a search is run on the PDF, the editors can selectively make the changes using the Sana editor.
Which languages can I translate content into?
Sana currently supports translation into 198 languages.
Languages supported
Languages supported
Abkhaz
Acehnese
Acholi
Afrikaans
Albanian
Alur
Amharic
Arabic
Armenian
Assamese
Awadhi
Aymara
Azerbaijani
Balinese
Bambara
Bashkir
Basque
Batak Karo
Batak Simalungun
Batak Toba
Belarusian
Bemba
Bengali
Betawi
Bhojpuri
Bikol
Bosnian
Breton
Bulgarian
Buryat
Cantonese
Catalan
Cebuano
Chichewa (Nyanja)
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Simplified, generic)
Chinese (Traditional)
Chuvash
Corsican
Crimean Tatar
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dinka
Divehi
Dogri
Dombe
Dutch
Dzongkha
English
Esperanto
Estonian
Ewe
Farsi
Fijian
Filipino
Finnish
French
French (Canada)
French (France)
Frisian
Fulfulde
Ga
Galician
Ganda (Luganda)
Georgian
German
Greek
Guarani
Gujarati
Haitian Creole
Hakha Chin
Hausa
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Hebrew (old code)
Hiligaynon
Hindi
Hmong
Hungarian
Hunsrik
Icelandic
Igbo
Iloko
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Javanese
Javanese (alt)
Kannada
Kapampangan
Kazakh
Khmer
Kiga
Kinyarwanda
Kituba
Konkani
Korean
Krio
Kurdish (Kurmanji)
Kurdish (Sorani)
Kyrgyz
Lao
Latgalian
Latin
Latvian
Ligurian
Limburgan
Lingala
Lithuanian
Lombard
Luo
Luxembourgish
Macedonian
Maithili
Makassar
Malagasy
Malay
Malay (Jawi)
Malayalam
Maltese
Maori
Marathi
Meadow Mari
Meiteilon (Manipuri)
Minang
Mizo
Mongolian
Myanmar (Burmese)
Ndebele (South)
Nepalbhasa (Newari)
Nepali
Northern Sotho (Sepedi)
Norwegian
Nuer
Occitan
Odia (Oriya)
Oromo
Pangasinan
Papiamento
Pashto
Polish
Portuguese
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Punjabi
Punjabi (Shahmukhi)
Quechua
Romani
Romanian
Rundi
Russian
Samoan
Sango
Sanskrit
Scots Gaelic
Serbian
Sesotho
Seychellois Creole
Shan
Shona
Sicilian
Silesian
Sindhi
Sinhala (Sinhalese)
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish
Sundanese
Swahili
Swati
Swedish
Tagalog
Tajik
Tamil
Tatar
Telugu
Tetum
Thai
Tigrinya
Tsonga
Tswana
Turkish
Turkmen
Twi (Akan)
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uyghur
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Welsh
Xhosa
Yiddish
Yoruba
Yucatec Maya
Zulu
Related articles: