AreaAudit

Which languages each generator says it supports, and where

Interface string: the cheapest language work there is

An interface string is a single piece of text in a product: a button label, an error message, a menu item. Translating a set of them is content work rather than model work, which is why it is the first language investment almost every company makes. As of 2026-09-22.

Three layers, and what adding one language costs in eachInterface strings need translation and a switcher. Generated documents need an instruction to a model. Spoken dialogue needs a voice recorded and licensed. The costs rise steeply and the disclosure thins out at the same rate.Interface stringsTranslation and a switcherContent workDeclared by nine vendorshereGenerated documentsAn instruction to a modelEngineeringPublished by oneSpoken dialogueA voice, recorded and licensedEngineering andlicensingPublished by nine,mostly as countsOne word covers all threeHow much of each layer is actually documented
Fig. 1 The cheapest layer is the most visible, which is why a language switcher gets mistaken for a statement about output.
Three language layers, by what adding one requires. Recorded 2026-09-22.
LayerWhat it takes to add a languageWho does the work
Interface stringsTranslation and a switcherContent and engineering
Generated documentsAn instruction to the modelEngineering
Spoken dialogueA voice, licensed and recordedEngineering and licensing

Inclusion rule. The three layers this register keeps, compared on what adding one language to each requires. Costs rise down the table. Order. Cheapest layer first.

1Cheap, visible, and therefore over-read

A translated interface is the language feature a visitor sees first and the one a company can add without touching a model. Those two facts together are why a language switcher gets mistaken for a statement about output.

Seeing your language in a menu tells you the marketing and product text was translated. It does not tell you the product will write or speak the language, and among the vendors read here it frequently does not.

2It is still informative about the company

Translating strings costs money per market and is maintained forever afterwards, so a company does it where it expects revenue. That makes the set a fairly candid map of where a vendor is selling.

This register counts declared site alternates for that reason rather than because the interface matters most. It is the layer with evidence attached; the other two are mostly undocumented.

3The gap between layers is the register subject

Among the vendors read here, the set with the longest interface declarations and the set with the longest voice lists barely overlap. Several vendors with no declared interface language publish the most detailed voice documentation.

So the cheapest layer and the most expensive one are filled by almost different companies. Any single language score would have to weight the two, and there is no defensible weighting.

A definition, not a measurement: no vendor figure appears here that is not also in the register. The three layers are described one at a time on the columns pages.

Nearby terms: Transcreation, Working document. The whole vocabulary is at terms; nothing on this page is a claim about a named product.