How to turn on localization for HR portal but not others

[Joanna15]

Experts, my question is if it is possible to turn on localization for the HR portal but not other part of the platform. ServiceNow says one can turn on localization/translation for part of the platform. My earlier test seemed to suggest that translation became a platform wide change to a user logged in with a different language. System default labels outside of the HR portal (e.g. IT portal, legacy portal, other applications) would turn into the user selected language (OOTB translation is available) or left as default English language when OOTB translation is not available. Would like to confirm my finding/understanding is correct. Thank you. 

[Alex Coope - SN · Accepted solution]

@Joanna15,

I'm afraid not (your findings are indeed correct). The "localization" aspect of the UI is set per user and therefore where-ever they navigate to in the platform (back-end, any portal, mobile app etc) if that UI has been translated then it will serve said user the corresponding translations.

The reason it's like this, is to ensure that end-users have a consistent in-language experience. Best practice therefore is to avoid a "mixed language" experience as much as possible because it can be very jarring for a non-English user to figure their way around. 

If you'd like to learn more we have a workbook available on our CSC page here and we have our "In Platform Language Support Guide" mega thread here which details all the various mechanisms, capabilities and best-practices on how to translate an instance,

Many thanks,
Kind regards

[Joanna15]

Thank you Alex for confirming my thoughts - this is very helpful.