NLU language support

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated June 11, 2026
  • 1 minute to read

    • The NLU Workbench application provides support for creating NLU models in different languages for use in other applications, such as Virtual Agent.

    The platform supports NLU for 17 languages. Ten of these languages available to your models have both intent and entity support; the remaining 7 languages have intent-only support. (Japanese entity support includes character annotation.)

    Note:
    Install the language plugins for languages you want to use in NLU. Installing and activating language plugins ensures that the languages are available in your instance. For more information see Activate a language.

    With intent and entity support, NLU can understand sophisticated utterances such as intent-entity relationships, system entities, and user-defined entities. NLU relays this information to Virtual Agent, and the user is usually taken directly to the conversation topic that offers resolution.

    With intent-only support, the focus is on intent recognition. With Virtual Agent using NLU, users are directed to the desired conversation topic, where qualifying follow-up questions may be asked before being taken to a topic that offers resolution.

    Utterances for all languages are case insensitive during intent prediction.

    The following table lists the currently available NLU languages and the features supported for each language.

    All languages support intents, vocabulary, batch testing, NLU performance, fast training, and Virtual Agent model use.
    Table 1. NLU feature support by language
    Language NLU feature supported
    English System-defined entities, user-defined entities, vocabulary sources, pre-built vocabulary, intent discovery, conflict review, expert feedback loop, Search model use.
    French System-defined entities, user-defined entities, vocabulary sources, intent discovery, conflict review, Search model use.
    Spanish System-defined entities, user-defined entities, vocabulary sources, intent discovery, conflict review, Search model use.
    German System-defined entities, user-defined entities, vocabulary sources, intent discovery, conflict review, Search model use.
    Japanese System-defined entities, user-defined entities, vocabulary sources, intent discovery, conflict review, Search model use.
    Portuguese System-defined entities, user-defined entities, vocabulary sources.
    Swedish Virtual Agent model use.
    Italian User-defined entities, vocabulary sources.
    Chinese (simplified) Virtual Agent model use.
    Brazilian Portuguese System-defined entities, user-defined entities, vocabulary sources.
    Dutch User-defined entities, vocabulary sources.
    French Canadian User-defined entities, vocabulary sources.
    Polish Virtual Agent model use.
    Korean Virtual Agent model use.
    Danish Virtual Agent model use.
    Finnish Virtual Agent model use.
    Norwegian Virtual Agent model use.