FAQ: Using Fluency to translate artist names, album titles, credits, performer roles, and genres.

Fluency is a revolutionary new discovery and language feature that lets you translate even more Roon content in your preferred language. Now, artist names, album titles, credits, performer roles, and genre names are available in 21 languages! And, it's only available in Roon.

These enhancements give you the freedom to access your collection and identify your favorite music in the language or languages of your choice – providing a Roon experience uniquely optimized to your individual needs.

This overview will explore Fluency in detail, describe its benefits, demonstrate set-up, and provide additional tips for interacting with your music in your preferred language.  

Fluency offers several benefits:

1. It makes Roon more accessible and inclusive, regardless of one’s language background.
2. It extends translation support to album and artist names, roles, and genres.
3. It provides a more personalized browsing experience for all Roon users.   
4. It unlocks a world of new music and cultures, making discovering music from different regions effortless. 
   

Fluency set-up 

Setting up Fluency is easy. To access the new feature preferences go to Settings>General> and look for Languages for artist and album names.

Fluency does more than provide additional translations – it’s multilingual. You can select one or multiple translation languages of your choice and sort them to your liking. For example, if you prefer to see names in Korean but can also read Japanese and English, organize your preferences in the order below. If a translation isn’t available in your top choice, names automatically appear in one of your alternate choices. 

Choosing a single language preference

Let’s begin our demonstration with Japanese to demonstrate one of Fluency’s key benefits, the ability to transliterate the Roman alphabet into characters of your choice.

Before Fluency’s release, the album page for John Coltrane’s landmark album My Favorite Things looked like this. In this scenario, the customer has chosen Japanese for the user interface and editorial sources, but the artist and album name remains in English.

After changing the Languages for artist and album names preferences to Japanese, with English turned off, the presentation transforms as seen below. Now Coltrane’s name, the album title, and the album’s genre tabs are shown in the desired characters – performer credits, credit roles, and related artists’ names are also translated into Japanese.

Fluency also lets you search using your preferred language. Now you can type either 山中千尋 or Chihiro Yamanaka and get the same results. This worked in some cases previously; with Fluency it works universally!

Selecting and prioritizing multiple language preferences

Fluency’s strengths and flexibility are best demonstrated when choosing multiple languages. 

The customer selected German as the preferred language in the example below, with Dansk and Netherlands as the second and third choices. Fluency displays are informed by each artist’s or ensemble’s native language name. The Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) is based in Munich, so Roon uses the native ensemble name in German.  

Fluency’s language features are further highlighted on artist details pages; now the artist’s native language name appears alongside your preferred language translation. As seen below, the ensemble’s native name appears just below the customer’s preferred English display.   

In our next example, Korean is the preferred language, with Japanese as the second choice. The album artist, Jimi Hendrix, is shown in Korean. The title, Electric Ladyland, isn’t available in that language. So, Japanese is used instead. 

Fluency displays Jimi’s artist page in Korean and augments it with his name in native English. Once again, Roon provides a more personal connection with our favorite artists that no other software even attempts.

Fluency provides unlimited customization possibilities

Fluency does more than provide and supplement translations. It lets you customize content to your specific needs and tastes. Here’s what we mean…

Fluency settings can be customized per device or remote. Adjusting preferences by device further elevates the user experience, especially in households with multiple Roon profiles where family members have individual language needs.

Now, your laptop can display Vietnamese while your husband’s tablet is set to French. Your children can select any language of their choice for their mobile devices. Fluency serves each profile and device exactly what it desires.  

What if you don’t want name translations at all? A multilingual Argentinian customer in our Fluency test group emphasized his love for Guns & Roses and preferred to see their name and album titles in native English.

No problem, Fluency does that! He prioritized Fluency settings with English above Spanish, and that easily… Guns & Roses’ Appetite for Destruction remains in English – satisfying the customer’s tastes.

More translations throughout Roon

Everywhere you look, Fluency provides unlimited opportunities for connecting with your music in the language of your choice! Beyond enhanced album and artist pages, Fluency also translates names on the Genre page, making navigating music styles easier than ever. 

In the photo below, Pop/Rock, Blues, R&B, Jazz, Folk, and Country have been transliterated into Thai.

Respect for native language name displays

Fluency name displays prefer artists’ native names if those languages are toggled on in Fluency settings. 

Here’s how it works… if you tell Roon that you’d like to see names in the following order, Korean, Japanese, and English, then search for Ryuichi Sakamoto, you’ll see his name in native Japanese, 坂本 龍一. If you search for Thelonious Monk, you’ll see his name in English.

At first, this may seem like a mistake since Korean is your first preference. Roon still considers your Fluency preferences, but it defers to displaying the names in the artists’ native language. That’s because your Fluency settings indicate that you’re comfortable with Japanese and English. If you’d rather only see names in Korean, turn off Japanese and English.

Additional info

1. Fluency is only available in Roon 2.0. If you’re still using Roon Legacy, upgrade now to enjoy this new feature.
2. Changing your UI language preference will automatically modify editorial sources and Fluency settings to match. You can fine-tune those settings further if desired.
3. Roon’s multilingual metadata will continue to grow as our translation database expands. You’ll see even more translations in your preferred languages as time passes.  
4. Language choices for the Roon UI are located at the bottom of the settings menu. 
5. Language choices for artist bios and album reviews are in Editorial Sources in the General tab of the settings menu.
6. Editorial Sources language settings can be prioritized, like Fluency settings.
   

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