How Can I Localize Prompt Sets?

Introduction

3CX Phone System ships with a set of Prompts Sets for the major languages. In this article, we explain how to localize the Prompts Set, so as to make them available in a language which is not included with the 3CX Phone System.

All prompt sets are located within this folder:

  • Windows: %programdata%\3CX\Instance1\Data\Ivr\Prompts\Sets
  • Linux: /var/lib/3cxpbx/Instance1/Data/Ivr/Prompts/Sets

Each prompt set has a separate sub-directory. For example, the default English prompt set is located within the “…\Sets\8210986B-9412-497f-AD77-3A554F4A9BDB” directory. The following table shows the list of all the Prompts sets available by default in 3CX Phone System with their ID / Folder Name.

Name

ID / Folder Name

Australian Prompts Set

52AUSSIE-f462-4b74-aa85-a1600db86d57

Bulgarian Prompts Set

BULGARIAN-4a4f-4160-b143-488a18be8ba8

Chinese Prompts Set

CHINESEB-9412-497f-AD77-3A554F4A9BDB

Czech Prompts Set

CZECH-4b4f-4160-b143-488a18be8ba8

Danish Prompts Set

2fDANISH-c98b-4cca-b4f6-5049AADC24bb

Dutch Prompts Set

1e6ed594-af95-4bb4-af56-b957ac87d6d7

French Prompts Set

0D767FEA-10A3-4ba4-8A57-FE74BDABE4E5

German Prompts Set

03E2DC8C-3382-43e2-A9D5-115F92C847BE

Greek Prompts Set

43EDFDBA-1C46-42d8-A47C-27A86BEFFF76

Italian Prompts Set

307392E1-F915-4f3a-9362-5049AADC242C

Japanese Prompts Set

JAPAN616-A130-47af-A467-30AE7F9AC661

Polish Prompts Set

8210456B-9412-497f-AD77-3S990T4499MB

Portuguese Prompts Set

1169FAC7-5570-43E3-8C75-AA3A965791E6

Russian Prompts Set

55RUSSIA-1SS6-4IA8-A47C-27A86BEFF5TF

Spanish Prompts Set

F1BAA317-E130-44ff-B467-63AE7F9EC061

Standard English Prompts Set

8210986B-9412-497f-AD77-3A554F4A9BDB

Swedish Prompts Set

32E3AD5C-3252-4ef2-A9D5-115A92B847AF

UK English Prompts Set

43E89581-DAD8-B6F4-7660-15D48B5E6026

Ukrainian Prompts Set

UKRAINEP-4512-485D-AFGG-UKR54F4A9BDB

Each prompt set includes the file SetInfo.xml which describes the prompts set, and includes the name of the prompt set, the prompts set’s version and the definition of the prompts.

Prompts set - SetInfo.xml

Prompt Set Number Style

By default, 3CX Phone System pronounces the order of numbers as they are pronounced in English. E.g. 21 is pronounced as “twenty one”. Some languages pronounce this differently – the numbers are inverted to “one and twenty” (as is the case in German).

The number style is determined by the <langopts num_style=”x”> parameter. When num_style is set to “0”, the number style used is English-based; when num_style is set to “1”, the number style used is German-based. E.g. <langopts num_style=”1″ />.

Prompt Set Translation

In order to create a new Prompt Set, you would need to go through the following steps:

  1. Choose the Base Prompt Set
  2. Make a Copy of the Prompt Set
  3. Create New Audio Files
  4. Replace Audio Files
  5. Translate Descriptions of Prompts
  6. Package the new Prompt Set

Let’s go through each of these in more detail.

Step 1. Choose the Base Prompt Set

First, you have to choose a prompt set which you will use as the base. You will use this to create your new prompt set. For example, if you want to create a new variant of the English prompt set (e.g. for use in Australia), you are better off using the English prompt set as your base. You can also download a prompt set in a different language from the 3CX Management Console in “Settings” > “System Prompts”.

In choosing your Base Prompt Set, keep in mind that you need to cater for the grammar style. If you want to create a new prompt set where the grammar is similar to German, then you should use the German prompt set as your base.

Note: The new “Group Prompt” set is configured by the ERP using PROMPTSETID. This property is not available through the UI.

Step 2. Make a Copy of the Prompt Set

After you have chosen the base prompt set to use, you need to create a copy of this prompt set. You cannot change the default English prompt set or prompt sets downloaded from the 3CX Web Site, but you can create and change a copy. All other languages can be edited directly. If you want to create a new language it is recommended to use a copy of the “Standard English Prompts Set”.

In the 3CX Management Console, go to “Settings” > “System Prompts” to create a copy of the “Standard English Prompts Set”:

  1. Click “Manage Prompt Sets”

Localize Prompt Sets - Manage Prompt Sets

  1. In the “Active Prompt Set” field, ensure “Standard English Prompts Set” is selected.
  2. Click “Copy Prompt Set”.
  3. Choose a Name for the new Prompts you are going to create; for example “Hungarian Prompts Set” and the ordering of numbers. The default is UK/US number ordering, alternate is German number ordering when the Use alternate Pronunciation option is enabled.

The 3CX Management Console creates a new directory within the “…\Sets” folder and copy all files from the base prompt set to this folder. The name of the new directory corresponds to the ID of the new prompt set. The ID of the prompt set is a random string generated when the new prompt set is created.

Prompt set ID

Step 3. Create New Audio Files

You can create new audio files, containing translated phrases from the base prompt set, by using a speech synthesizer or by recording audio with a microphone. You can then edit audio using your favorite audio editor.

These guidelines apply for creating audio files for prompt sets:

  • The supported audio file format is WAV, PCM, 8 KHz, 16 bit, Mono.
  • Try and keep the size of the .wav files as small as possible.
  • Remove silence (more than 10-20 ms) at the beginning and at the end of prompts where possible.
  • Avoid abrupt clipping of audio at the end of prompts to avoid audio artifacts (clicks) at the end of prompts.
  • Try to create prompts with similar audio characteristics, such as volume, pitch, voice timbre – so that combined phrases sound smooth.
  • Do not use reserved characters (< > : " / \ | ? * &) for the prompt filename.

Step 4. Replace Audio Files

System prompts

You can replace audio files in the 3CX Management Console in “Settings” > “System Prompts:

  1. Click on “Manage Prompt”, select the “Active Prompt Set” and click “OK”.
  2. Select each prompt to replace and click Browse to select an alternate audio file.

You should replace all the audio files required to fully translate the prompt set.

Step 5. Translate Descriptions of Prompts

When changing the content of audio files, you should also change the prompt descriptions.

Localize Prompt Sets - Translate Description

The SetInfo.xml file contains descriptions for all prompts within a prompt set. Descriptions of prompts are displayed in the “Prompts” column of the “System Prompts” window. The descriptions of prompts cannot be changed from the 3CX Management Console, but can be changed manually in the “SetInfo.xml” file, using a text-editor or xml-editor.

Prompt descriptions can contain international (non-Latin) symbols. There are two ways to insert international characters to a prompt description:

  • Use the “&#xHH;” HTML sequences, where “HH” is hexadecimal code for a Unicode character.
  • Edit the SetInfo.xml file as a UTF-8 file, so you can use any Unicode characters within the prompt description.

Step 6. Package the new Prompt Set

After you have translated a prompt set (changed content of audio files and translated description of prompts), you may want to send this prompt set to 3CX Phone System.

To make a prompt set package, just pack the directory of the prompt set (together with files and subfolders) into a RAR or ZIP file. The prompt set directory must contain all the audio files and the SetInfo.xml” file.

Last Updated

This document was last updated on 25 May 2023

https://www.3cx.com/docs/localize-promptsets/