Multilingual RAG is not solved by translating every query into one language.
Language can be a routing signal. It can affect retrieval, evidence selection, and answer synthesis. But knowledge itself should not be trapped in language silos.
Public-safe principles
- A query in one language may retrieve evidence in another.
- Translation should be a tool, not a default crutch.
- Evidence language and answer language are separate decisions.
- Memory should remain shared across languages when the knowledge is the same.
Routing boundary
Language routing should be explicit. If language changes the retrieval path, the system should be able to explain that decision.
Why it matters
Real knowledge spaces are messy. Documentation, support notes, logs, and internal decisions can exist across languages. Agentic RAG needs to reason over that reality without forcing every source into a single pipeline assumption.