How does Machine Translation work on SUMO?

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 315376
  • Created:
  • Creator: Kiki
  • Comment: initial content
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: kelimuttu
  • Is approved? No
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: No
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SUMO localization now has Machine Translation integrated and enabled in several languages. This article explains how the Machine Translation (MT) workflow works when it’s enabled for your locale.

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What happens when MT is enabled in my locale?

When MT is enabled for your locale, two key things will happen:

  1. Automatic translation after RFL

As soon as an article is marked Ready for Localization (RFL), MT will automatically generate a translated version.

  1. Daily MT translation on backlog

If your locale hasn’t reached 100% translation parity with the English source, MT will also run scheduled translations on a daily basis to address missing and stale content. This ensures articles remain fresh and consistent for our users—including archived articles.

What are “missing” and “stale” content?

  • Missing translations are articles that have never been translated before.
  • Stale translations are articles that are more than 6 months out-of-date compared to the latest localizable revision of their English source.

What is the MT bandwidth?

  • For active articles, the system checks for missing and stale content every 4 hours.
    • During each cycle, MT processes up to 2 articles per locale (max 12 per locale per day).
  • For archived articles, the system updates up to 10 articles every 4 hours, but only one locale per cycle.

Is there a review window?

Yes! When an MT revision is created, it will stay in the review queue for 7 days, giving the community time to review and take action.

During this window, you can:

  • Approve the MT revision as-is
  • Propose an update by submitting a new revision on top of the MT version
  • Reject the MT revision entirely
If no action is taken by the end of the 7-day period, the MT revision will be automatically approved and shown to users with a clear label to indicate that it’s translated by AI. However, note that this label only appears on auto-approved MT content and not on revisions manually approved by a reviewer.
Exception: For archived articles, MT revisions are automatically approved immediately to reduce review burden for contributors.

Can I edit articles that have undergone MT?

Absolutely! Contributors can edit an MT-translated article at any time—whether during the 7-day review period or after the automatic approval. You’re encouraged to make improvements, corrections, or adjustments whenever necessary.