Ways to make Multilanguage WordPress Website

By default WordPress does not provide the functionality to create multilanguage website. However you can do this by plugins or translation services. Multilanguage means, your website can reproduce the content in other languages.

Reasons may be vary to create multilanguage WordPress website. Perhaps it would be for attracting international audience or a different language speaking customers for your products.

Whatever the reason, here we will discuss the ways to make multilanguage WordPress website. For this purpose, there are two options.

1. By plugin : There are so many different types of plugins are available and we can categorize them as below:

One language per post: A Few free plugins fall under this category such as xili-language, Polylang, Bogo. In these types of plugins you have to do the translation manually for each post. Polylang is a most popular plugin because it has a clear cut and user friendly admin panel.

After installation, add languages from given option. Then on add or edit post section, you will see a "languages" box at the right side of a page, it shows all added languages.

It also provide language switcher, that can be added with navigation or in sidebars.

If you want to add language switcher at different place, use <?php pll_the_languages();?> function. See the documentation at Polylang.

All languages in a single post : qTranslate plugin is an example for this category. You will get similar interface for adding languages. Just use 2 letter ISO language code in the give box.

In add/edit post section, you will get options to add text in other languages, unlike Polylang, you don't need to create separate post for each language.

Language chooser can be added in the sidebar

Automatic Translation : Transposh is great plugin for translating a website automatically. Just select languages from the list and save it. This plugin also allows visitors to edit non-english text on your site but you can restrict it from its settings.

If you see any message for upgrading this plugin, follow the steps below

I. Click on settings tab.
II. Select Allow upgrading option.

III. Then click on the save changes button.
IV. Now in the "updates" section of WordPress dashboard, look for "Transposh Translation Filter" under plugins list.

V. Select it and click on update plugins button.

That's it now option will be open for selecting more languages..

2. Multisite :  Installation of multisite for this purpose is also helpful. It will provide a separate site for each language. After setup use any of these plugins Multisite Language Switcher, Multilingual Press, and Zanto. With the help of network admin create websites for different languages and add those links on frontend.

So as per above explanation, you have seen that there are various options to make Multilanguage WordPress Website. Mainly you have to choose either automatic translations or human translations. Pick a solution according to your need but it may take a bit of trial. Each option has it own advantages and disadvantages you only need to trial them on non-live environment and when you get your perfect solution go with that.