On this page
The terms
- Base language
- The language your organization builds in — templates, categories, roles, forms. Every translation refers to it, and wherever there is no translation, everyone reads the base language. Set under Organization → Stammdaten (master data).
- Content languages
- The languages you translate into — in addition to the base language. You choose them under Organization → Translations. If an organization has no content languages, Bricksta shows nothing about translating.
- Target language
- The one content language you are translating right now. There is never more than one: the form shows it, with the original greyed out above.
- Translation mode
- The state in which an editing page is there for translating rather than building. You are in it as soon as a target language is picked in the language switch; the base segment takes you back to base mode.
Setting up content languages
Under Organization → Translations, the “Content languages” bar sits at the top: first the base language marked “Base”, next to it every content language. “+ Add language” adds one, the × on its name removes it again. An admin sets the base language itself under Organization → Stammdaten (master data).
Bricksta itself comes in German and English. You can still add a content language nobody reads the app in — French, say. It carries an envelope icon in the language switch, and when it is picked, the line below reads “French: only visible in emails to contacts with this language”. That is exactly what it is for: emails to contacts who have French set go out with your French texts.
Building and translating: translation mode
Every page where translatable content is maintained carries the same language switch at the top: “DE Base” for building, next to it one segment per content language with its progress, e.g. “EN 3/8”. In base mode you see no translation fields. Pick a target language and you are in translation mode: the fields show the target language with the original greyed out above, and whatever is the same for every language — type, rules, rights, order — steps back. A translation left empty falls back to the base language.
- Templates: in the editor the names of workflows, phases and tasks; in the field inspector a field's label, help text, placeholder and options; in the settings the outcomes of a case.
- Send step: subject and text of a message in the task window. Placeholders appear there as chips; if one is missing from the translation, Bricksta says so when you save.
- Message library: name, description, subject and message of every template. In the target language, too, you insert placeholders as chips via “Insert field”. When you later apply the template to a send step, all translations come along.
- Categories, process types, the task library and datasets (column names).
- Organization → Roles, and the external roles under Organization → External contacts as well as on the template.
- Public intake forms: title and consent text.
- Document templates: introduction, description of services, payment terms and closing text of an offer, with placeholders as chips. Name, number range, letterhead and logo apply to all languages.
The mode applies to the whole session: switch pages and you stay in the same target language. A new browser tab starts in base mode again — so nobody carries on building inside a translation the next morning without noticing. A link ending in ?sprache=en opens a page directly in English translation mode; ?sprache=basis switches back. On a phone you can swipe the language switch sideways when not every language fits across.
The status line: what is missing or outdated
In base mode, translating only speaks up when there is something to do: a line below the header such as “English: 3 names missing, 1 outdated” with a “Translate ›” button that switches you straight into that language. Outdated means the base-language text changed after it was translated. Once every translation is there and current, there is no line.
Everything in one place: Organization → Translations
If you would rather not translate page by page, Organization → Translations lists every translatable text of the organization. At the top you pick the target language; below, tabs narrow it to one area — category, process type, template, role, field, option, workflow, phase, task, library, dataset column and entry, external role, intake form, message text, message template — and the status buttons to “Missing”, “Out of date”, “AI · unreviewed” or “Translated”, each with its count. Every row shows context and original; you type the translation right there. “Open in its page” takes you to the editing page and opens it straight in translation mode for the same language.
Areas that need a maintenance right of their own — message texts, message templates, intake forms, dataset entries — only appear for those who hold that right.
Translating with AI — and reviewing
“Translate missing with AI” fills every missing text of the chosen target language in one go. It never overwrites an existing translation. What the AI wrote carries the status “AI · unreviewed” and is not yet visible to readers: they keep seeing the base language until a person confirms the translation. You can do that in bulk with “Mark all as reviewed”; a translation you save by hand counts as reviewed as well. The AI leaves placeholders such as {{kuerzel}} untouched, so messages still insert the right values in translation.
The “Auto-approve AI translations” switch applies to the whole organization: when it is on, AI translations go live straight away without a review step. Only turn it on if you are happy to rely on translations without reading them.
Handing it off: assign to a member
“Assign to member” hands the chosen target language to a person, with a note if you like. They see the assignment in “My work” and at the top of the translations page as “Assigned to you: English”, translate there and close the assignment with “Mark done”. They do not need admin rights for this: “Open” takes them to a translations page of its own, which stays open to them as long as the assignment is open.
Who reads what in which language
- Members read Bricksta in their own language. If a piece of content has a reviewed translation in that language, they see it; otherwise the base language.
- External contacts have a language of their own, kept on the contact and chosen visibly when you invite them. Emails to them go out in that language; if none is set, the organization's base language applies.
- An offer from the “Generate offer” step is created in the language of the main contact — the participant added to the case first. Each text block uses its reviewed translation, otherwise the base language; without a contact the offer is created in the base language.
- A content language without an interface of its own reaches its readers by email only: your translated texts arrive in it, while system emails such as the invitation are sent in English.