If you want to connect with the global audience, it can be the best strategy to use multilingual content on your website to speak with people of different nations in their language. Thankfully when you create a website using WordPress, there are several provisions to easily turn to translate your site into several languages. Here are a few ways to translate your WordPress website in multiple languages:
There is a specific translation plug-in that enables you to start automated/ manual translation in the WP ecosystem. Here are a few of them.
Translate
With the help of this free plug-in, you can insert Google Language translator tool through the widget. It is an easy option to enable automated machine translations for your website.
Pros
· It saves you from hiring a translator or buying premium translation plugins.
Cons
· Machine translations have their own limitations and many times the phrases sound dumb irrelevant simply incomprehensible. The audience often has to go through some guesswork to understand the language. Due to the high volume of gibberish or strange-sounding sentences with many grammatical mistakes, the search engines might look at it as a spam content and it can affect the rankings.
The plug-in also offers a paid version with more advanced features: edit translations, URL translation, metadata translation, etc.
Use robots.txt file to stop search engines from indexing the translations. Permit your users to relate the content rough widgets.
If you area looking for the advanced features like metadata translation, URL translations or editing translated text then you can opt for the paid version. If you are okay with using the automated machine translating then it could be the best option for you.
Transposh
Transposh supports as many as 82 language translations and also offers you the simple correction options. It is a user-friendly plug-in that also enables you to combine the machine translation with manual translation to retain the original intent and impact of the content.
Pros
· It is available for free
· Supports a large number of languages
· Enables you to combine machine translation with manual translation
Cons
· Depending upon the depth and presentation for your content there could be significant inaccuracy in the automated translation
· You would need to invest good attention for manual correction
If you need to wisely combine the manual and machine translation then it could be the reliable option for you
Ajax Translator Revolution
True to its name the Ajax translation revolution is an innovative instant translation plug-in that supports 63 languages and employs the Google Translate machine translation services. It is a zero delay plug-in that translates your content seamlessly as soon as you install it.
Pros
· Highly customizable
· Allow you to exclude specific sections from different sections, pages or posts
· You can choose either flags or names of the languages as per your convenience and preferences
· Its custom positioning settings allow you to place it at your convenient position even if your theme doesn’t have the widget area
· Allows for the annual translations
· Highly competitive and works well with other plugins like BuddyPress, Gravity forms bbPress and WooThemes
Cons
· Low quality of automated translations with less accuracy
Polylang
Polylang is a high-quality plugin that offers reliable support and multiple user-friendly features.
Pros
· It consumes very fewer resources
· Free availability
· Quick and high-quality support
· Versatility
· It allows you to translate different sections, segments and elements of your WP customs, tags, menus, taxonomies, sticky posts, media and several other elements to help you enjoy an extended control over the translation requirements/capabilities.
Cons
· Being developed by individuals entity, strong reasons to believe that there could be some issues with the updating or retaining its appeals. It can invariably affect the plugins compatibility and may hurt your site’s future interests
· Inadequate documentation
· Isn’t compatible with several themes
WPML
If budget is not a problem then you can also use the WPML the premium WP plug-in that permits manual translation. Being a premium plug-in it offers a fully professional appeal, highly reliable functionality, timely updates and good technical support by an expert team.
Pros
· It is managed by an entire team of multiple WP developers and dedicated support ecosystem that makes it a great option for the business sites, eCommerce sites and professional blogs with commercial goals
· You can be fully reliable about the updates
· Complete and accurate documentation with detailed manual in PDF format
· Allows you to translate multiple elements of your wise and offers additional capabilities to configure domains/subdomains/subdirectories in different languages
· Helps you to execute SEO for different languages through Yoast plug-in
· All the major WP themes including ThemeForest themes are supported
· You can also build and run multilingual eCommerce sites
· Allows XLIFF translation through translation management plug-in
· Permits you to hire professional translators right from the admin dashboard at competitive prices for smooth execution. It reduces time to market.
· Licenses for unlimited sites
· 100% money-back guarantee with zero question asked.
Cons
· It is a premium plug-in and is heavy on the budget depending upon your specific requirements and goals
· Additional tables are created in the database that can affect the admin panel speed however it will not affect the site
Conclusion
WordPress websites offer you strong provisions to translate your site content in multiple languages. Along with the machine translation you can use human translation as well as the hybrid translation (machine + human). Some various user-friendly tools and plugins make things even easier for you.