Frequently Asked Questions

AI Governance

The set of practices and tools used to monitor, explain, and control how AI models (including LLMs) make decisions—especially important in regulated industries using translation models.

CDP (Customer Data Platform)

A system that unifies customer data across systems for segmentation and personalization. In Salesforce, this is represented by Data Cloud, where structured data often needs multilingual support.

DPA (Data Processing Agreement)

A legal agreement required under privacy laws (e.g., GDPR) between a data controller and a processor. When external services (like MT engines) process data, a DPA ensures compliance and data handling transparency.

Fallback Locale

The language or locale that a system displays when a requested translation is unavailable. For example, if fr-CA (Canadian French) content is missing, the fallback may be fr-FR (France French) or en-US (U.S. English). Fallback locales ensure the user still receives intelligible content, avoiding empty fields or untranslated strings. In Salesforce, fallback behavior can be configured in translation logic or custom code to align with brand and compliance requirements.

Glossary API

An interface that allows systems to retrieve and apply company-approved terms and phrases during translation. Glossary APIs are used to enforce consistent terminology in LLM prompts and TMS workflows.

HITL (Human-in-the-Loop)

A workflow where human linguists review, correct, or approve machine-generated translations. Ensures high translation quality and brand alignment—especially for customer-facing content.

LLM (Large Language Model)

An AI model trained on large amounts of textual data, capable of understanding language context and generating human-like responses. Used for advanced translation, tone management, and multilingual prompting in Salesforce.

Locale

A locale represents a specific combination of a language and a regional or cultural variant. For example, en is the ISO language code for English, while en-US represents U.S. English and en-GB represents British English. Locales affect not only the text displayed but also number formats, date formats, currency, and cultural conventions. In Salesforce, locales are used to tailor both UI language and data formatting to the user’s regional settings.

Named Credentials (Salesforce)

A secure way to manage authentication settings for external systems in Salesforce. Commonly used to connect to TMS or MT APIs without hardcoding secrets.

NMT (Neural Machine Translation)

A form of AI-based translation using deep learning. Produces more fluent and context-aware output than rule-based or statistical systems. Supports domain-specific tuning.

MTPE (Machine Translation Post-Editing)

A process where human linguists review and improve machine-generated translations before they are published. Common in enterprise workflows, MTPE combines the speed and cost-efficiency of machine translation with the quality and nuance of human oversight. In Salesforce contexts, MTPE is often integrated into asynchronous workflows for Knowledge Articles, product catalogs, and high-value marketing content.

PIA (Privacy Impact Assessment)

A formal evaluation of privacy risks associated with a system or process. Required under GDPR when integrating services like translation engines that process personal or customer data.

Prompt Engineering

The practice of designing effective instructions (prompts) for LLMs to generate targeted outputs. In translation, this includes specifying tone, audience, glossary usage, or message format.

Pseudo-translation

A quality assurance technique used before actual translation begins, where original text is replaced with an artificial translation that includes accented or special characters (e.g., “Tèšt Štrïńg”) and often expanded in length. This helps verify that UI components, layouts, and encoding can handle target language characteristics without truncation, overflow, or rendering errors. Pseudo-translation is especially valuable in Salesforce Experience Cloud, custom Lightning components, and mobile layouts.

Real-Time Translation (Live Translation)

Instant translation of content or conversations as they’re being written or received, typically used in Salesforce Messaging, Live Agent Chat, or in-app support.

Structured Content

Data stored in fields with fixed formats (e.g., product names, CRM attributes). Requires precise translation workflows that maintain data integrity and localization context.

Subprocessor

A third party that processes data on behalf of a vendor (e.g., a translation engine provider). Enterprises must disclose and audit subprocessors for privacy compliance.

TMS (Translation Management System)

A platform that manages the full translation lifecycle—project creation, linguistic review, glossary enforcement, vendor coordination, and automation. Examples: Phrase, GlobalLink, Language Weaver.

Translation Memory (TM)

A database of previously translated content segments used to speed up future translations and ensure consistency. Often integrated into TMS platforms and LLM workflows.

Unstructured Content

Free-text content such as emails, chat transcripts, or article bodies. Often requires context-aware or AI-driven translation methods.

Version Control (Translation)

Tracking changes and history of translation output over time. Essential for compliance, auditability, and rollback capability in multilingual systems.

XLIFF (XML Localization Interchange File Format)

An XML-based standard for exchanging translatable content between systems. Encapsulates source, target, metadata, and translation status. Enables round-trip workflows with TMS platforms.

PDF/X (PDF for Exchange)

A print-safe subset of PDF used to preserve layout and fonts. In translation, it’s often used for localizing branded assets, reports, or brochures while maintaining visual consistency.