Cascade is currently a primarily English application. However, there are several ways that it can be customized to support different languages. In this article, we'll go over some of the things you can do if you're planning to implement Cascade in a language other than English. You will need to decide for yourself if the solutions presented will be sufficient for your needs.
Support for Most Character Sets & Language Input
The good news is that anything you enter into Cascade - i.e. any of your goals, updates, report names etc. - will retain the correct character set and look exactly the same throughout Cascade as you entered them. Here's an example of our strategy planner in Spanish:
Support for Custom Labels
Some (but not all) of the Cascade user interface can be customized to your local language. We are able to change the 'labels' of some key terminologies of the system to match your required language. Currently, the elements which can be tailored to your local language include the 'labels' for:
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Goal status
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'Goal / Task / Risk / Updates' labels
Google Translate Chrome Extension
Many customers have found that enabling the Google Translate Extension for Google Chrome gives a near seamless experience to their users for most parts of the system. This will of course be dependent on the quality of Google's translation to your local language, and also the use of the Google Chrome browser.
A Note About Right to Left (RtL) Support
Cascade does not natively support right to left languages such as Arabic. However, many parts of the system do respect the browser setting that you have configured as your default. For example, if your browser is set to right to left by default, many parts of the Cascade UI will automatically render correctly in the right to left style.
Some parts of the system however do not support this very well, such as unstructured data on charts and other graphical reports. Structured data such as on the strategy planner and snapshots work reasonably well however.
Some Other Limitations for Non-English Support
In addition to the system, it's worth noting that there are some other limitations you should be aware of if you're planning to deploy Cascade in a language other than English:
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Our default help content is only available in English at present.
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The same applies to our videos, guides and webinars - English only.
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Our support team will do our best to support you over live chat, however we cannot guarantee the availability of support staff to respond in any language other than English.
Important Note: Ultimately we will continue to enhance our support for different languages over time, however at present you will need to make a judgement call about whether Cascade currently suits your needs. We would be happy to offer an extended free trial of the solution for you to figure this out!