Getting Started with Multilingual Websites on WordPress

Launching a multilingual website might sound ambitious, but it’s well within your grasp, especially with WordPress. Implementing a multilingual WordPress website can expand your reach exponentially if you implement it correctly.

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1. GETTING STARTED WITH MULTILINGUAL WEBSITES ON WORDPRESS WordCamp Montréal ~ August 2017 Karl Hudson Phillips // @khudsonphillips
2. Who Am I? Hybrid Designer/Developer Charleston, South Carolina
3. Who Am I? I’m from the country of Trinidad and Tobago
4. Who Am I?
5. Who Am I? Founded Charleston’s WordPress User Group in 2011 and led until 2015
6. Who Am I? Co-Organizer of Refresh Charleston refreshcharleston.com
7. Who Am I? Program Chair for Syntax Conference syntaxcon.com
8. Who Am I? Program Chair for Revolve Conference revolveconf.com
9. GETTING STARTED WITH MULTILINGUAL WEBSITES ON WORDPRESS
10. What is a Multilingual Website? A multilingual website is one that offers content in more than one language.
11. Reasons Against Multilingual Sites 1. It won’t necessarily increase your profits
12. Reasons Against Multilingual Sites 1. It won’t necessarily increase your profits 2. It won’t be adequate if you can’t offer services in the other language(s)
13. Reasons Against Multilingual Sites 1. It won’t necessarily increase your profits 2. It won’t be adequate if you can’t offer services in the other language(s) 3. It requires more effort, maintenance, and may cost more money
14. Reasons For Multilingual Sites 1. Reach a wider audience by making content more accessible
15. Reasons For Multilingual Sites 1. Reach a wider audience by making content more accessible 2. Removing barriers to speakers of another language shows your intent to serve other audiences
16. Options: Making a Site Multilingual 1. Using Automatic Machine Translations
17. Options: Making a Site Multilingual 1. Using Automatic Machine Translations - Cheapest option - Almost no work at all - Translations often don’t make much sense
18. Options: Making a Site Multilingual 1. Using Automatic Machine Translations - GTranslate (plugin) - Google Language Translator (plugin) - JetPack (plugin) - Google Translate Widget
19. Options: Making a Site Multilingual 1. Using Automatic Machine Translations 2. Manually Creating Another Website
20. Options: Making a Site Multilingual 1. Using Automatic Machine Translations 2. Manually Creating Another Website - No browser detection - No string/text translations - Requires more work to keep things linked and synchronized
21. Options: Making a Site Multilingual 1. Using Automatic Machine Translations 2. Manually Creating Another Website 3. Using a WordPress Plugin
22. Options: Making a Site Multilingual 1. Using Automatic Machine Translations 2. Manually Creating Another Website 3. Using a WordPress Plugin WPML WeGlot Transposh Polylang qTranslate
23. Options: Making a Site Multilingual 1. Using Automatic Machine Translations 2. Manually Creating Another Website 3. Using a WordPress Plugin - WPML - Polylang
24. WPML VS. POLYLANG for Multilingual WordPress Websites
25. WPML - A Premium Plugin • Most well-supported multilingual plugin
26. WPML - A Premium Plugin • Most well-supported multilingual plugin • Allows translation of pages, posts, custom post types, taxonomy, menus & more
27. WPML - A Premium Plugin • Most well supported multilingual plugin • Allows translation of pages, posts, custom post types, taxonomy, menus & more • Every theme or plugin that uses the WordPress API runs multilingual with WPML
28. WPML - A Premium Plugin • Multilingual Blog - $29 US ($15 US renewal) - Translation of posts, pages, custom types, tags, categories, and custom taxonomy - Translates menus - Browser language detection
29. WPML - A Premium Plugin • Multilingual CMS - $79 US ($39 US renewal) - Translation of custom fields - E-Commerce Support - Translate Widgets, - CMS Navigation, sticky links
30. WPML - A Premium Plugin • Multilingual CMS Lifetime - $195 US (no renewal needed)
31. WPML - A Premium Plugin More information at WPML.org
32. Polylang - A Freemium Plugin • The basic version is free
33. Polylang - A Freemium Plugin • The basic version is free • Allows translation of posts, pages, media, categories, post tags, menus, widgets.
34. Polylang - A Freemium Plugin • The basic version is free • Allows translation of posts, pages, media, categories, post tags, menus, widgets. • Includes a customizable language switcher is provided as a widget or in the nav menu
35. Polylang - A Freemium Plugin • Custom post types, custom taxonomies, sticky posts and post formats, RSS feeds and all default WordPress widgets are supported.
36. Polylang - A Freemium Plugin • Not as well-supported as WPML
37. Polylang - A Freemium Plugin • Not as well-supported as WPML • In most many cases, this is all you may need
38. Polylang - A Freemium Plugin • Basic version - 0.00€
39. Polylang - A Freemium Plugin • Basic version - 0.00€ • Polylang Pro (1 site) - 99.00€ • Polylang Pro (3 sites) - 198.00€ • Polylang Pro (25 sites) - 495.00€
40. Polylang - A Freemium Plugin More information at Polylang.pro
41. A Quick demonstration w/ POLYLANG
42. Additional Considerations • Plugin planning is necessary (compatibility)
43. Additional Considerations • Plugin planning is necessary (compatibility) • The amount of content on the website (affects level of effort)
44. Additional Considerations • Plugin planning is necessary (compatibility) • The amount of content on the website (affects level of effort) • Assess your Current vs Potential audience
45. Contact Information • karl@harbormark.net • twitter.com/khudsonphillips • linkedin.com/in/karlhudsonphillips
46. Questions & Answers