Yes, this is expected behavior. When you hardcode a static email address (like testuser08@me.inc) in the Users field under "Who will receive," ServiceNow can't reliably determine the recipient's preferred language. The notification translation mechanism depends on resolving the recipient to a sys_user record and reading that user's Preferred language field (preferred_language).
With a static email address, one of two things happens:
- No matching user record found — ServiceNow has no language preference to reference, so it falls back to the system default language (English).
- A user record exists but the preferred language isn't set — same result; it defaults to English.
To get the French/Dutch translations to apply for this notification, you have a few options:
Option A — Use the user record instead of the static email. Remove the hardcoded email from the Users field and add the actual sys_user record for that person. Then ensure their Preferred language field is set to fr or nl accordingly.
Option B — Use a "Users/Groups in fields" reference. If this notification is tied to an incident, point to a user reference field on the incident (like assigned_to, caller_id, or a custom field) so ServiceNow resolves the user and picks up their language preference at send time.
Option C — Use an event parameter to pass the recipient. If the notification is triggered by an event, pass the user's sys_id as event.parm1 or parm2, then reference that in the notification. This also lets the platform resolve the user record and apply the correct language.
The core principle is that ServiceNow's i18n email engine needs a resolved user record with a preferred language to select the right translation. Static email addresses bypass that resolution.
