When should I use formal vs casual translations?

Learn when to use formal or casual translation settings to match your brand voice and audience expectations.

Formality settings let you control the tone and style of your translations to match your brand voice and audience expectations. Choosing the right formality level helps ensure your translated content feels natural and appropriate for your readers.

Understanding Formality Levels

Translate Desk offers three formality settings:

Default

  • Balanced, natural tone suitable for most help center content
  • Professional but approachable
  • Works well for general support articles and documentation

More Formal

  • Professional, business-appropriate tone
  • Uses formal language and structure
  • Suitable for enterprise customers, legal content, or professional documentation

More Casual

  • Friendly, conversational tone
  • Uses relaxed language and everyday expressions
  • Great for user-friendly content, community guides, or casual support articles

When to Use Each Setting

Use Default Formality For

  • General support articles: Most help center content benefits from a balanced tone
  • Product documentation: Technical guides that need to be clear and professional
  • Getting started guides: Content that should be approachable but informative
  • Most use cases: When you're unsure, default is usually the best choice

Default formality works well because it's professional enough for business contexts while remaining accessible to all readers.

Use More Formal For

  • Enterprise content: Articles targeting business customers or enterprise users
  • Legal or compliance documentation: Content that requires formal language
  • Professional services: Documentation for professional or B2B services
  • Official communications: Important announcements or policy updates
  • Technical specifications: Detailed technical documentation that requires precision

Formal translations use more structured language and avoid casual expressions, making them suitable for professional contexts where credibility and authority matter.

Use More Casual For

  • Community guides: Content for user communities or forums
  • User-friendly tutorials: Step-by-step guides that should feel approachable
  • Product announcements: Friendly updates about new features
  • Welcome content: Onboarding materials that should feel warm and inviting
  • Consumer-focused content: Articles targeting general consumers rather than businesses

Casual translations use everyday language and friendly expressions, making content feel more approachable and less intimidating.

Language Support

Not all languages support formality settings. When you select a language that doesn't support formality, the default option is used automatically.

Languages that typically support formality include:

  • European languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, etc.)
  • Some Asian languages
  • Other languages depending on the translation system's capabilities

If formality isn't supported for a language, the translation will use the default tone appropriate for that language, which usually works well for most content.

Consistency Matters

Once you choose a formality level for a type of content, use the same level consistently across related articles. This helps maintain a consistent brand voice and makes your help center feel cohesive.

Tips for Consistency

  1. Document your choices: Keep track of which formality level you use for different content types
  2. Create guidelines: Establish rules for when to use each formality level in your organization
  3. Review regularly: Check that related articles use consistent formality levels
  4. Train your team: Make sure team members understand when to use each setting

Changing Formality After Translation

If you want to change the formality level for an existing translation, you'll need to re-translate the article with the new setting. The previous translation will be replaced with the new one.

To change formality:

  1. Select the article
  2. Click Translate
  3. Choose the same language(s) again
  4. Select the new formality setting
  5. Start the translation

Note that re-translating uses credits again, as it creates a new translation.

Best Practices

  1. Start with default: Use default formality unless you have a specific reason to change it
  2. Match your brand: Choose formality levels that match your brand voice and audience
  3. Be consistent: Use the same formality level for related articles
  4. Test different options: Try different formality levels on a few articles to see what works best
  5. Consider your audience: Think about who will read the content and what tone they expect

Examples

Example 1: Enterprise Software

Scenario: You're documenting enterprise software features for business customers.

Recommended: More formal

  • Uses professional language appropriate for business contexts
  • Maintains credibility and authority
  • Matches expectations of enterprise customers

Example 2: Consumer App

Scenario: You're creating a getting started guide for a consumer mobile app.

Recommended: More casual or default

  • Friendly, approachable tone helps users feel comfortable
  • Less intimidating for non-technical users
  • Matches the casual nature of consumer apps

Example 3: Technical Documentation

Scenario: You're documenting API endpoints for developers.

Recommended: Default or more formal

  • Clear, professional tone suitable for technical content
  • Balances approachability with precision
  • Works well for developer-focused content

Next Steps

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