Accessible Listserv

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Multilingual Broadcast Support ​

The Listserv application is designed for multilingual member networks, supporting English, French, Portuguese, and Arabic across every interaction surface — from subscriber onboarding through email dispatch to analytics.

1. End-to-End Language Flow ​

text
Subscriber selects       ───▶   Preferences stored in       ───▶   Broadcast dispatched
preferred language              standard UserPreference             in subscriber's language
(on subscribe form)             (`user/{uid}/private/preference`)

Language flows through four distinct layers:

  1. Configuration — Channel owner enables active languages (/settings/language)
  2. Composition — Admin selects a primaryLanguage for each broadcast and composes multilingual body content
  3. Translation — When a broadcast enters approved state, translations are generated or verified for each active channel language
  4. Delivery — The send engine selects the correct language version per subscriber by matching the subscriber's preferred language against available translations

2. Per-Channel Active Languages ​

Channel owners control which languages are active via Channel Settings > Active Languages (/settings/language). Languages available for activation are sourced from the customer's global language configuration in Customer Settings.

Active Languages Configuration
Managing active languages for automated broadcast translation

When a language is enabled:

  • Approved broadcasts entering the approved state trigger translation into that target language
  • A dedicated Mailgun mailing list is maintained per-language: {channelId}-{lang}@mg.a11ydata.com
  • Subscribers with that preferred language are automatically added to the corresponding language list

3. Broadcast Composition & Primary Language ​

When creating a broadcast, the administrator selects a Primary Language — the language the content is originally composed in. Additional language versions are provided either:

  • Manually: The admin writes content in multiple languages directly in the broadcast editor (locale/{lang} fields)
  • Automatically: The translation pipeline generates versions for each active channel language
text
broadcast.content = {
  "en": { subject: "Upcoming Workshop", body: "Join us for..." },
  "fr": { subject: "Atelier à venir",  body: "Rejoignez-nous pour..." },
  "pt": { subject: "Workshop próximo", body: "Junte-se a nós para..." },
  "ar": { subject: "ورشة عمل قادمة",    body: "انضموا إلينا..." },
}

If automatic translation fails for a specific language, the system falls back to the primaryLanguage version so delivery proceeds without interruption.

4. Subscriber Language Preferences ​

Language Selector on Subscribe ​

Subscribers select their preferred language during signup:

Language Selector in Subscribe Form
Language selection radio group on the public subscription form

Available languages are filtered to the channel's activeLanguages. Each option displays the language-native name (e.g., "Français" instead of "French") via the languageNative lookup table.

The selection is stored as an ISO 639-1 code (en, fr, pt, ar) in a standardized UserPreference document (user/{uid}/private/preference) — decoupled from listserv-specific data to enable reuse across the platform.

Language Matching at Send Time ​

During dispatch, the send engine:

  1. Reads each subscriber's preferred language from UserPreference
  2. Selects the matching locale version from broadcast.content
  3. Falls back to broadcast.primaryLanguage if the subscriber's language is unavailable
  4. Sends via the appropriate per-language Mailgun mailing list

5. Multilingual Email Commands ​

Email-based subscription commands (SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, HELP) are recognized in all four supported languages, with case-insensitive matching on the subject line or first line of the body:

CommandEnglishFrenchPortugueseArabic
SubscribeSUBSCRIBE / SUBABONNE / ABONNERINSCREVERاشتراك
UnsubscribeUNSUBSCRIBE / UNSUBDESABONNECANCELARإلغاء الاشتراك
HelpHELPAIDEAJUDAمساعدة

Automated reply emails (confirmation, acknowledgment, error) are also composed in the matched language or fall back to the channel's primary language.

6. Language-Segmented Analytics ​

Per-broadcast performance metrics are filterable by language:

  • Delivery Rate per language list (sent × delivered for {channelId}-fr@mg.a11ydata.com vs. {channelId}-ar@mg.a11ydata.com)
  • Open Rate and Click Rate segmented by subscriber language preference
  • Enables comparison of engagement across language communities

Related Content ​