Creating a Multi Language Website: WordPress Case-Based Research from ProCoders

In a connected world, being able to communicate with a global audience is crucial for businesses and content creators alike.

That’s where multilingual websites come in, a vital tool to break down language barriers and expand your reach. To support users who speak other languages, you need to translate website content, menus, and URLs to be accessible and usable for different audiences.

WordPress multiple language adaptation not only opens doors to new markets and audiences but also shows sensitivity and respect for cultural diversity. But creating a multilingual website is not without challenges, from technical implementation to cultural nuances in translation.

Enter ProCoders, a team with experience in developing and adapting websites for multilingual audiences. Our case studies offer valuable insights into the best practices and strategies for creating multilingual websites.

A multilingual website serves the same content, adapted for different language audiences, while catering to local preferences.

Multilingual WordPress Sites

Expanding your online presence to a global audience starts with a WordPress multilingual website. By offering your content in multiple languages, you can connect with users from different backgrounds, increase your website’s reach, and build trust with international visitors.

A multilingual WordPress site not only boosts your brand’s credibility but also allows you to tap into new markets and opportunities.

There are several ways to make your WordPress site multilingual. You can use dedicated WordPress multilingual plugins that simplify the translation process and manage multiple languages on one site.

Or you can opt for manual translation, creating separate pages or posts for each language. For businesses targeting different markets, setting up separate sites for each language with individual WordPress installations can give you even more flexibility and localization.

Whatever approach you choose, multilingual WordPress adaptation is a smart move that sets your site up for growth and success in a connected world. In the following sections, we’ll show you how to set up, manage, and optimize your multilingual WordPress site for maximum impact.

Planning for Multi Language WordPress Adaptation

When adapting a website to support multiple languages, strategic planning is key to determine the best approach to reach your target audience in more than one language.

The choice between different translation solutions should be based on your target audience, resource availability and overall business goals. Identifying your target languages during the planning phase is crucial to ensure your translation efforts are focused and effective.

Strategic Planning: Multilingual Site or Separate Sites for Each Language

Multilingual Site:

• Pros: Easier to manage, maintain brand consistency and consolidate SEO.
• A single website with multiple languages, managing more than one language on one site. This is done through language selection options.
  • Pros: Easier to manage, maintain brand consistency and consolidate SEO.
  • Cons: Requires careful design to accommodate different languages and complexity in navigation.

Separate Sites for Each Language:

• Individual sites for each language, often with separate domain names or subdomains. You may need to create a new site or a second site for each language, each referred to as a language site.
  • Pros: Tailored user experience for each language, more flexibility in content and design.
  • Cons: Higher maintenance, separate SEO strategies for each site, potential fragmentation of brand identity, and more complexity in maintaining the entire site for each language.

Choose the right approach based on your target audience, resource availability, and overall business goals.

Setting up a Multilingual WordPress Site

Setting up a multilingual WordPress site involves several key decisions that will shape your website’s structure and user experience. The first step is to determine the best way to manage multiple languages.

Many site owners choose a WordPress multilingual plugin, such as Polylang or WPML, which allows you to add, manage, and switch between different language versions of your content.

These plugins offer translation management, language switchers, and compatibility with popular themes and plugins, making them a popular choice for multilingual WordPress sites.

Another approach is to create separate sites for each language, each with its own WordPress installation. This is ideal for organizations that require full control over content, design, and SEO for each language version. While this approach can be more resource-intensive, it allows for highly tailored experiences for each audience.

Whatever approach you choose, make sure to consider your site’s URL structure so search engines can easily index and differentiate between language versions.

Whether you use subdirectories (example.com/en/), subdomains (en.example.com), or separate domains, a clear structure helps both users and search engines navigate your multilingual site.

Also, make sure your language switcher is easy to find and use, and your site’s design accommodates different languages and scripts.

By planning your multilingual WordPress setup and using the right plugins and tools, you can create a website that delivers a seamless experience to visitors worldwide.

Technicalities in WordPress Multi Language

Adapting your website to multiple languages involves several technicalities. Once you’ve addressed these technicalities, you should configure language and encoding settings in the WordPress admin area to display and manage multilingual content properly.

Technical Aspects

Character Encoding:

• Use Unicode (UTF-8) encoding to support characters from all languages.
• Characters and symbols from all languages will be displayed correctly.

Text Direction:

• Some languages, like Arabic and Hebrew, are right-to-left (RTL). Your site must be designed to accommodate this, flipping layouts as needed.

Language Specific Design:

• Account for text length variations between languages, which can affect layout and design.
• Consider cultural differences in color meanings, images, and layout preferences.

SEO for Multilingual Sites:

• Ensure translated text is accurate and optimized for each language to improve SEO and user experience.

Sitemaps and URLs:

• Each sitemap should include all translated content to help search engines index every language version.

Understanding the Role of hreflang Tags and Other SEO Considerations

Hreflang Tags:

• Use hreflang tags to tell search engines about the language and geographic targeting of a webpage.
• Hreflang tags help search engines understand which language version to display to users, ensuring the correct version of your site appears in search results.

SEO for Multilingual Sites:

• Each version should be optimized for SEO relevant to that language and region.
• Maintain consistent quality and depth of content across all languages.

Local Keywords:

• Conduct keyword research for each language to optimize for search terms used by your target audience in different regions.

Sitemaps and URLs:

• Create separate sitemaps for each version.
• Use clear, SEO-friendly URL structures that indicate the language and region, for example, using subdirectories (example.com/en/, example.com/es/).

By carefully considering these strategic and technical aspects, you can effectively adapt your website to be multilingual, enhancing its reach and accessibility to a global audience. The key lies in balancing the user experience for each language while maintaining the overall integrity and objectives of your website.

User Experience in Multilingual Websites

Creating a WordPress language-diverse website goes beyond just translating content; it involves crafting a user experience (UX) that resonates with diverse audiences. Ensuring that visitors have a seamless and intuitive experience regardless of the language they choose is crucial for the success of a multilingual site.

For optimal user experience, the language switcher should be easily accessible. Placing the language switcher in the main menu allows users to find it quickly as part of the site’s primary navigation. Integrating it as a menu button within the main menu ensures that visitors can conveniently switch languages directly from the navigation interface.

Ensuring a Seamless User Experience Across All Versions

Consistent Navigation and Layout:

• Maintain a consistent layout and navigation structure across all versions to provide a familiar and intuitive user interface (UI).
• Variations in text length and direction should be accommodated without disrupting the overall design and navigation flow.

Cultural Sensitivity in Design:

• Be mindful of cultural nuances and preferences in design. Colors, images, symbols, and even fonts might have different connotations in different cultures.
• Adapt design elements to be culturally appropriate and appealing to each target audience.

Language Switcher Accessibility:

• Implement an easily accessible language switcher, allowing users to change languages effortlessly. This is typically placed in the header, footer, or main navigation menu.
• Ensure the language switcher is clearly visible and understandable, with languages listed in their native scripts. For added clarity and user experience, display each language name or all language names in their native script within the switcher.

Case-Based Examples of UX/UI Design Adaptations for Different Languages

Right-to-Left (RTL) Layout Adaptations:

• Example: An Arabic version of a website where the entire layout flips to accommodate RTL reading. This includes text alignment, navigation menus, and even mirrored graphics. It’s also common to provide an English version as a standard option in the menu, allowing users to easily switch between languages.

Cultural Design Adaptations:

• Example: A Japanese site version might use more minimalistic design and imagery that resonates with local aesthetics, as opposed to a more vibrant and image-heavy design for a Latin American audience.

Font and Typography Adjustments:

• Example: For languages like Chinese or Korean, choose fonts that maintain legibility even with complex characters, and adjust font sizes and line spacing accordingly.

In these examples, the focus is on adapting the UI and UX to meet the linguistic and cultural expectations of each audience.

This approach not only enhances user engagement but also builds trust and connection with your brand.

A well-executed multilingual website can provide a welcoming and satisfying experience, encouraging visitors to explore your site further, regardless of their language or cultural background.

Content Management and Maintenance

Managing content across multiple languages on a multilingual website is a big challenge. It requires a strategic approach to ensure consistency, accuracy, and timeliness in all languages. Managing multilingual posts is key to keeping content in sync across all languages.

Strategies for Managing and Updating Content Across Multiple Languages

Centralized Content Management System (CMS):

• Use a CMS that supports multilingual content management. This gives you control over all versions in one place. We recommend going for WordPress development services.
• Update and review content in all languages regularly to keep it accurate and relevant.

Consistent Content and Brand Message:

• Keep a consistent brand message across all languages while allowing for cultural adaptations. This means coordination between content creators for different versions.

Efficient Workflow for Content Updates:

• Set up a streamlined workflow for content creation, translation, and publication. Define roles and processes for content writers, translators, and editors.

Quality Control and Localization:

• Implement quality control to ensure translations are not just linguistically correct but also culturally correct.
• Consider localization, which goes beyond translation to adapt content for cultural nuances and local preferences.

Tools and Plugins that Can Assist with Multilingual Content Management

WordPress Multiple Language Plugins:

• Using a translation plugin is essential for managing multilingual content in WordPress. There are many multilingual plugins and language plugin options available, with the Polylang plugin and WPML being popular plugins for creating multilingual websites. The Polylang plugin even offers a free version, allowing you to set up a basic multilingual site without cost.These plugins allow you to translate every part of your site, including posts, pages, tags, categories, and themes, into as many languages as needed.

Translation Services Integration:

• Some tools offer integration with professional translation services, facilitating high-quality translations directly within your CMS.

Automated Translation Plugins:

• Plugins like Google Website Translator and TranslatePress can offer automated translation solutions using Google Translate and machine translations. With these plugins, your content can be automatically translated, though the quality may not match human translation.

Content Synchronization Tools:

• Tools that help synchronize content across different versions, ensuring that updates or changes are consistently reflected in all languages. Some plugins support many languages and can manage as many languages as you require, even allowing you to assign different domains for each language version of your site.

Before going live, always test the language switcher on a test site to ensure it works as expected. When configuring plugin settings, such as language or URL options, remember to click save changes to apply your adjustments.

Managing multilingual content effectively involves not just the right tools but also a well-thought-out strategy that addresses the complexities of multiple languages and cultures.

By leveraging WordPress CMS capabilities and specialized plugins, you can create a workflow that ensures your multilingual site remains cohesive, current, and culturally resonant.

Best Practices for Multilingual WordPress Sites

To get the most out of your multilingual WordPress site, you need to follow best practices that improve translation quality, SEO, and user experience.

Start by investing in human translators whenever possible, as they can ensure your content is not only accurate but also culturally relevant and engaging for each audience. While machine translation and translation plugins can speed up the process, human oversight is key for professionalism and nuance.

Optimizing your site for search engines is another important consideration. Use a clear and logical URL structure for each language version and update meta tags, titles, and descriptions to match the target language. A visible and intuitive language switcher in your site’s navigation or header helps users find their preferred language easily and improves overall usability.

Don’t forget cultural adaptation. Adjust your content, images, and design elements to resonate with each audience, taking into account local customs, preferences, and expectations. Consistency in branding and messaging across all language versions is important, but so is flexibility to accommodate regional differences.

By following these best practices, your multilingual WordPress site will attract more visitors and provide a user-friendly, SEO optimized experience that builds trust and engagement across all your target markets.

Case Study: ProCoders’ Website Localization Project for the Israeli Market

We at ProCoders had to create a new site for potential clients in Israel. The main objective was to design the site using the same WordPress theme as our main site. This way, any improvements made to the theme would be reflected across all their sites.

Challenges

• Right-to-Left (RTL) Layout Adaptation: The main challenge was to adapt the website layout for Hebrew, a language that reads right-to-left. This required a big change in text and element positioning, from left-to-right format.
• Font Compatibility Issues: During development, we found out that one of the fonts didn’t display Hebrew characters correctly. We had to switch to a different font family that supports the language.

Solutions

• CSS Adjustments for RTL: The lead developer suggested specific CSS changes to support RTL layout. This included using padding-inline-start instead of padding-left, text-align: initial instead of text-align: left, and inset-inline-start for positioning. This way, the website could support RTL text alignment and element positioning natively.
• Font Family Replacement: We chose a different font family that supports Hebrew so the text would display correctly on the website.

Results

The CSS adjustments saved a lot of time and code. The website looks native for RTL layout without major code changes.

The project was done in a week. The smooth adaptation was because we designed the blocks, styles and site structure with flexibility and adaptability in mind from the beginning.

ProCoders launched a Hebrew version of the website, overcoming RTL layout adaptation and font compatibility challenges. The project proved we can localize a website for a different market and keep the same theme and style across multiple platforms.

Conclusion and Future Directions

In summary, building a multilingual WordPress site is a strategic investment in your brand’s global future. By offering your content in different languages, you can connect with a wider audience, improve your site’s visibility in search engines, and create a more inclusive online experience.

Staying informed about the latest WordPress plugins, translation technologies, and best practices will help you keep your site competitive and relevant.

Adapting your website to cater to multiple languages is a strategic step towards expanding your global reach and connecting with a diverse audience.

While the process involves careful planning, technical considerations, and an understanding of cultural nuances, the benefits of creating a multilingual website are substantial. It not only enhances user experience and engagement but also opens up new markets and opportunities for growth.