Important Tips to Create WordPress Multi Language Website

WordPress Multilanguage Website plugins that assign the same language per post, will allow the user to select a post language and add translations as new posts (similar to pages, tags, and categories).

Then, different versions of the same content are added together to create translation groups. This grouping allows users to switch display language.

Pros:

Database content for posts remains unmodified (easy install and uninstall).

The main point is that by default everything is translated here. If a post contains custom fields, then they are attached to that post, so they are already connected to the language.

Some plugins are used for the displayed conditions of the subject - language files (.mo) given with local files. In WordPress, Localization is based on GNU Gettext technology.

Files can be completed with specific words (categories, widgets, links ...) of the site. Not all need to translate again, just add specific words and translations in targeted languages.

Other plugins that analyze content (such as related posts) work properly.

Opposition:

Cons:

● More complex architecture The plugin needs to hook up and filter many WordPress functions so that only content that matches the language is returned.

● Some groups require additional tables - usually, to keep the translation group. New plugins probably use a custom taxonomy or post meta field instead.

● As a result, excessive database growth and slow performance may occur. On a WooCommerce-based site, there will be 500,000 records after translating 100,000 products into 5 languages. All products are meta (per product may be tens of them, as well as repeated to customers, so the database can be very large).

All languages in a single post:

Multilingual plugins that put all language content in a single post, use language meta tags to differentiate between content in different languages. When the post is displayed, it is processed first and only active language content remains at Devio.digital website.

Pros:

● Side-by-side editing is easy to apply.

● Very few things to break There are no extra tables and very few things to modify WordPress.

● The same post will be found in the search, even if you use the keyword for the keyword.

● The number of records in the database remains the same.

Cons: 

● Uninstallation can be complicated because the database needs to be cleaned with multilingual content.

● Post Permalinks cannot be translatable.

Manage translations on the generated page

Multilingual plugins that use content pages generated by WordPress and translate on those pages. When a page is displayed on WordPress, the plugin (either offline or online) tries to make a translated version of the page using machine translation. Later, that translation can be manually changed or modified.

Pros:

1. Installation is simple and translation for any content on the page has been provided.

2. Translation can be easily edited.

Cons:

1. Automatic translation is not good enough and pages on the site can be badly translated.

2. There is a strong coupling between content and translation, and changes in the original content can break the translation.

Using external translation services with the help of Plugins:

Those multilingual plugins are usually used to create a widget that creates a shortcut to use online translation services (like Google Translate). Materials are auto-translated on demand by the third-party engine.

Pros:

Installation is simple and translation for any content on the page has been provided.

It is quite clear that the translation process is automated, so users' expectations decrease.

Cons:

1. Automatic translation is not good enough and pages on the site can be badly translated.

2. Without the ability to change the translation, those plugins limit content publisher's ability to provide quality translated content.

How to choose the right multi language solution:

Selecting the most suitable multilingual plugin for your needs will take some time. See the WordPress Support plugin directory for the list of multilingual plugins.

There is not only one way, but rather a method of content strategy, data-models, posts and number of pages and friendly behaviors/experiences expected by visitors. And for the WordPress Network (Multisite), good knowledge of server administration is essential.

In any case, installing a multilingual plugin is a major change for any site. It would be a good idea to first create a test site and verify that everything works well between all the necessary plugins and themes and only then is installed.

Since many multilingual plugins change databases significantly, database backup is required before using.

That’s all!