Question

How do I handle multilingual reports when using Smart Narrative in Power BI?
This question seeks to explore the best practices for handling multilingual content in Power BI’s Smart Narrative feature. Specifically, it focuses on how to ensure that Smart Narrative dynamically adjusts and displays text in multiple languages, taking into account user preferences or regional settings. The solution should consider Power BI’s localization capabilities and how Smart Narrative can be customized for different languages.

Answer 1

To handle multilingual reports using Smart Narrative in Power BI, you can follow these best practices:

1. Leverage Power BI's Localization Features
   Power BI allows you to create reports that automatically adapt to different languages by using localized field names and content. You can configure localized reports by setting the language of the Power BI report according to the user’s locale. This enables Smart Narrative to automatically adjust text content based on the language settings.

2. Create Dynamic Measures for Multilingual Support
   You can use DAX to create dynamic measures that change based on the user’s language or regional settings. For example, by using the USERLANGUAGE() function, you can create custom measures that output different text or values based on the language setting. This allows Smart Narrative to present different descriptions and summaries depending on the language selected by the user.

3. Custom Text in Smart Narrative
   Customize the text content in Smart Narrative by integrating measures or dynamic labels that change based on language. You can achieve this by creating separate measures for each language or by using conditional logic to dynamically change the content. For example, create a measure that returns text in English for English users and in Spanish for Spanish users.

4. Use Power BI's Parameterized Reporting
   If your reports require multiple language options, consider using Power BI's parameterized reports or bookmarks to provide users with a language switch. You can set up a slicer that allows users to select their preferred language, and then change the Smart Narrative text accordingly by using DAX to conditionally format and display the appropriate content.

5. Test and Validate Across Languages
   It's important to test your multilingual reports in various languages to ensure the Smart Narrative content displays correctly, including ensuring that the grammar and sentence structure are correct. The content should be legible, and Smart Narrative should make sense in the context of each language.