For reference, these are not bulk emails. This particular email is generated to send notification to a single user when someone makes a connection request on their profile. And yes, there may be some language swapping going on, since the user requesting the connection may have language parameter en-gb and the generated email is going to a user that has language parameter ja-jp (or the opposite).
For the auto action
Global: User = Manual and User Variable = Variable 2
Action: To = [var2]
Perhaps the new translation system in CB 3 will help!