AI Course Translation
This guide explains how to use Translate with AI in a course’s language tabs to draft a translation of the course’s text — lesson pages and quiz questions — from the base language into another language you are adding. It is written for administrators and instructors who author courses.
The AI only ever writes a draft. Every draft is marked as AI-generated and stays in your editor until you review it and save it yourself. Nothing is published, and nothing counts toward a language being complete, until a person saves it.
Availability. AI translation is switched on per platform environment by Embay. It has been on in production since 2026-09-24, after its privacy impact assessment addendum was signed (Law 25). If you do not see the Translate with AI buttons, check that your role can edit the course (instructors see them only on courses they are assigned to), or ask Embay whether AI features are enabled for your environment.
What gets translated
| Content | Where you find the action | What the AI drafts | What it never changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lesson page text blocks | The language’s tab → a Web content module → Translate with AI under each block, or Translate missing text with AI at the top of the tab | The block’s text, keeping its formatting (headings, lists, links, bold…) | The base-language text, images, videos and embedded quizzes |
| Quiz questions | The language’s tab → a Quiz module → Translate the base quiz with AI | Each question, its answer choices and its explanation | Which answer is correct, the points, the question type and the answer order — these are copied from the base quiz |
| Course and lesson titles | The language’s tab → Course and lesson titles → Draft titles with AI | The course title, short description, description and every lesson title — only the fields that are still empty | The base-language titles, and any title already saved in the language |
Title drafts are marked AI draft and are saved only when you select Save titles.
Not translated by the AI: uploaded files (SCORM, cmi5, AICC, video, audio, documents) and live sessions. Upload or schedule those per language as described in Course Languages.
Translate the lesson text of a whole language tab
- Open the course in Courses, go to the Modules tab, and select the language tab — for example French Canadian (fr-CA). If the language does not exist yet, add it first with + Add a language.
- Click Translate missing text with AI at the top of the tab. The AI drafts every text block that has no translation yet in this language. Blocks you already translated are left alone.
- When it finishes, a message says how many blocks were drafted and how many failed. Each module with drafts shows an AI drafts to review marker, and the first one opens.
- Review each draft side by side with the base text. Each drafted field shows the AI draft — not saved badge. Edit anything that needs it.
- Click Save translation under each block you accept. The badge disappears, and only now does the block count as translated.
Drafts live in your browser tab until you save them. If you leave the page before saving, the drafts are discarded — run the translation again.
Translate one text block
- Open the language tab and expand a Web content module.
- Under the block, click Translate with AI. The draft replaces what is in the translation field (it is not saved).
- Review, edit, then click Save translation.
Use this to redo one block, or to translate a block that already had a translation you want to replace.
Translate a quiz
- Open the language tab and expand the Quiz module. If the language has no quiz yet, click Create quiz first — the passing score, attempt limit and time limit always come from the base quiz.
- Click Translate the base quiz with AI. A list of draft questions appears, labelled AI-generated draft.
- Review each question. Untick any you do not want.
- Click Add N questions. The selected drafts become ordinary questions in this language’s quiz, where you can edit them like any other question.
Questions that could not be translated are listed separately with a Retry link; they are never added half-translated.
Language and style
| Translating into | How the AI writes |
|---|---|
| French Canadian (fr-CA) | Québec French following Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) recommendations, formal vous, and the platform’s own terms — « cours », « parcours d’apprentissage », « apprenant », « questionnaire », « inscription », « courriel » |
| English (en) | Clear, professional English addressing the learner as “you” |
| Other languages (quizzes only) | A formal, professional register |
The AI keeps HTML formatting, links, placeholders such as {name}, numbers and proper names. Long pages are split at paragraph or sentence boundaries, translated in parts and put back together.
Configuration reference
| Setting | Where | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| AI features (platform) | Set by Embay per environment (AI_FEATURES_ENABLED) | Master switch for every AI feature |
| AI course translation (platform) | Set by Embay per environment (AI_TRANSLATION_ENABLED) | Shows the Translate with AI actions. Needs the master switch too. On in production since 2026-09-24, after the privacy assessment was signed |
| Permission | Roles with Edit courses (course:update) | Instructors see the actions only on the courses they are assigned to |
| Languages for lesson text | English and French Canadian | Lesson text blocks store these two languages. Quizzes can be translated into any language you add |
Privacy and records
- Only course content is sent to the AI: the base text of lesson blocks and the base quiz’s questions, choices and explanations. No learner, user, enrolment or result data is ever sent.
- The AI runs on Amazon Bedrock in Canada (ca-central-1). Your content is not stored by the AI service and is not used to train any model.
- Every translation run is recorded in the audit log (Settings → Audit log, action
ai_translation_generated): who ran it, on which course, which blocks or questions, whether each succeeded, and which model was used. The text itself is not recorded.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No Translate with AI button | AI translation is not enabled for your environment, or your role cannot edit this course | Ask your administrator; Embay enables the feature per environment |
| ”AI translation of text blocks is available for English and French Canadian only.” | The language tab is another language | Translate that language’s lesson text by hand; the quiz action still works |
| ”There is too much text to translate at once.” | The tab or quiz is very large | Translate one block at a time, or split the quiz |
| A block says “The AI translation failed for this block.” | A temporary problem with the AI service | Click Retry. Nothing was changed |
| ”Every text block already has a translation in this language.” | Nothing is missing | Use Translate with AI under a specific block to redo it |
| The language is still marked incomplete after translating | Drafts are not saved yet | Save each draft with Save translation; the counter updates on save |