Earlier this yr, I used to be handed an AI-generated content material challenge with a deceptively easy objective: adapt electronic mail messages for worldwide audiences.
This wasn’t my first time navigating international nuance. With an MBA in Worldwide Enterprise and expertise engaged on a world consulting challenge in Portugal, I’d already seen how messages land in a different way relying on tradition, tone, and language. However this was my first time making use of that lens to AI content material era in my MarTech AI position at HubSpot — and it was extra advanced than anticipated.
We already had an AI-generated electronic mail immediate that labored properly in English—conversational, pleasant, and context-aware. The problem? Making it work in Spanish and French with out sounding robotic, clumsy, or culturally off-base.
Sounds simple. It wasn’t.
The Hidden Complexity of “Simply Localizing”
What we have been actually doing was asking an AI mannequin — educated predominantly in English — to talk different languages as naturally as a local marketer would.
Our first makes an attempt fell flat.
Instance (unique AI output in Spanish):
Right here’s what we aimed for in English:
“I noticed you have been scoping across the platform and that you just have been all for talking with us. Would you want to satisfy on one of many following days?”
That is the unique output in Spanish:
“Estuve revisando tus interacciones en nuestra plataforma y quería ofrecerme como tu punto de contacto.”
In English, it interprets to:
“I reviewed your exercise and wished to grow to be your level of contact.”
Whereas grammatically appropriate, this sounded invasive in Spanish — like we have been watching the consumer too intently. It didn’t really feel pure. One reviewer known as it “creepy.”
Right here’s one other instance:
Authentic English intent: “I observed you’ve been exploring our platform and expressed curiosity in connecting with us.”
Authentic Spanish output: “Me pareció interesante tu interés en nuestros servicios.”
Translation in English: “I discovered your curiosity in our companies attention-grabbing.”
Once more, it’s technically correct, however it’s redundant and robotic. It’s the form of phrasing that makes a reader cease and go, “Did a bot write this?”
The takeaway: Even when the interpretation is correct, the tone may be off. And tone is all the pieces in advertising.
The Shift from Translation to Language-aware Immediate Design
At this level, I noticed we would have liked greater than AI outputs — we would have liked a system for guiding the AI to suppose like a multilingual marketer.
I constructed a language-portable immediate framework — a structured immediate that would adapt throughout languages whereas respecting each’s distinctive grammar, tone, and cultural context.
Right here’s What Modified
As a substitute of 1 static immediate, I broke the logic into variables:
: Goal language (e.g., Spanish, French, German)
: Pronoun and tone stage (“tu” vs. “usted”, “vous” vs. “tu”)
: Inbox-friendly, conversational, skilled
: Direct vs. suggestive phrasing
: Enforced the place grammar allowed
We additionally added clear, language-specific guidelines.
Instance (Spanish):
Use tú persistently, by no means usted (too formal for our model)
Keep away from gendered adjectives like interesado/interesada when attainable✅ “Mostraste interés en … ” ❌ “Estuviste interesado en … ”
Instance (French):
At all times use vous, not tu, in B2B messages
Keep away from ambiguous endings like intéressé(e) ✅ “Vous avez montré de l’intérêt … ” ❌ “Tu t’étais intéressé(e) … ”
Why This Shift Mattered
In English, a pleasant CTA would possibly appear like:
“Would you be accessible for a short dialog on one of many following days?”
We tried immediately translating it into Spanish:
“¿Quieres agendar 15 minutos para hablar sobre lo que estás buscando?”
It was grammatically appropriate, however it sounded too informal and unprofessional in a B2B context. Not pushy, simply barely off-tone.
So, we reworded it to be pleasant however formal:
“Si te parece bien, podemos agendar una conversación breve esta semana.”
This interprets to:
“If it really works for you, we will schedule a brief chat this week.”
Right here’s one other instance in French:
Authentic output: “Souhaitez-vous prendre rendez-vous pour en discuter ?” (“Would you prefer to schedule a gathering to debate this?”)
New model: “Auriez-vous 20 minutes pour voir remark HubSpot pourrait concrètement vous aider?” (“Would you’ve 20 minutes to see how HubSpot might virtually assist you?”)
The second model provides worth to the CTA. Not simply time — however objective.
Backing It Up With a Stakeholder Questionnaire
Localization isn’t only a linguistic subject — it’s a enterprise alignment subject.
To get it proper, I created a easy stakeholder consumption doc and shared it with advertising ops, regional entrepreneurs, and content material leads. The objective was to align early on tone, content material boundaries, and regional sensitivities.
These are a number of the questions I requested:
What stage of ritual is suitable in your market?
Ought to we keep away from gendered phrases?
Can we reference the consumer’s firm or product utilization?
How direct ought to we be in asking for motion?
Are there idioms, cultural references, or phrasings we should always keep away from?
We acquired some fairly attention-grabbing insights.
For instance, in some areas, stakeholders most popular to not reference the recipient’s firm sort within the copy, regardless that that was frequent in English (e.g., “I noticed that you just assist startups with HR”).
The localized various turned extra normal:
“Entiendo que están buscando formas de mejorar sus procesos internos.” (“I perceive you’re trying to enhance inside processes.”)
The outcomes of this survey helped create readability between content material, ops, and regional advertising groups — and dramatically lowered our revision cycles.
The Remaining Product: Human-sounding Emails at Scale
With the up to date immediate and consumption framework, the brand new outputs have been immediately higher.
Earlier than:
Authentic output: “Hola [FirstName], soy María de HubSpot. He visto que has navegado nuestra plataforma y parece que te interesa nuestro producto.”
English translation: “Hello [FirstName], I’m María from HubSpot. I noticed you’ve browsed our platform and it appears you’re all for our product.”
After:
Authentic output: “Soy María de HubSpot. Vi que estuviste explorando la plataforma y que querías saber más sobre cómo podemos apoyar tu negocio.”
English translation: “I’m María from HubSpot. I noticed you have been exploring the platform and wished to study extra about how we will assist what you are promoting.”
And stakeholders responded positively:
“This lastly seems like somebody from our crew wrote it.”
“Good tone — pure and native.”
“No gender errors or bizarre formalities. We are able to really use this.”
Even higher, we didn’t want to jot down separate prompts for each marketing campaign. The identical core framework now powers AI-generated messages in a number of languages — with constant high quality.
Takeaways for Entrepreneurs
Whether or not you’re engaged on AI copy, international advertisements, or multilingual content material, right here’s what I realized:
1. Don’t simply translate — localize for intent.
Literal translations will get you “technically appropriate” content material. However solely localization will make it land.
2. Use prompts like inventive briefs.
Embody tone, formality, CTA type, gender neutrality, and different language guidelines as variables. Don’t go away nuance to likelihood.
3. Construct language-aware templates.
Languages behave in a different way. Plan for issues like verb conjugations, pluralization, and sentence rhythm upfront.
4. Get suggestions early.
Use a stakeholder consumption doc earlier than era, not after. You’ll keep away from rework and misalignment in a while.
5. Purpose for an actual, human tone.
In case your AI output doesn’t really feel like one thing you’d write to a buyer, it gained’t convert. Learn it aloud. Would you hit ship?
AI localization is a advertising talent now.
This challenge taught me one thing that has caught with me since: The way forward for international advertising isn’t nearly scaling content material — it’s about scaling context.
The businesses that succeed with AI gained’t be those who generate essentially the most content material. They’ll be those who generate essentially the most resonant content material as a result of they know immediate for it. And that begins with understanding the languages your clients converse — in additional methods than one.
