This document discusses considerations for making a WordPress site multilingual. It covers: - Benefits of multilingual sites like reaching more users. - Approaches to multilingual sites like using plugins that have separate content for each language or machine translations. - Factors to consider like ensuring all elements can be translated, URL formats, and search engine optimization with hreflang tags. - Tips like testing plugins for compatibility, avoiding automated translations, and not expecting the core WordPress software to fully support multiple languages soon.

1. WordPress Multilingual:
Benefits and Considerations
Dat Hoang
@tiendathoang
WordCamp Kathmandu 2018

2. WHY IT IS A WORTH INVESTMENT?
Multilingual Website

4. Reach More Clients / Users

5. MULTILINGUAL IS GREAT. HOW?
i18n -> l10n -> Multilingual

6. Internationalization (i18n) is the
process of developing your theme/plugin
language, so it can easily be translated
into other languages.
Localization (l10n) describes the
subsequent process of translating an
internationalized theme/plugin.
Multilingual means there are more
than one language in sites.

7. Wrong
echo 'WordPress is the best!';
Right (use gettext functions)
echo __( 'WordPress is the best!', 'my-text-domain' );
Internationalization

8.
File Types
● POT (Portable Object Template)
#: plugin-name.php:123
msgid "Page Title"
msgstr ""
● PO (Portable Object)
#: plugin-name.php:123
msgid "Page Title"
msgstr "Título de la página"
● MO (Machine Object)
Localization

9. Multilingual?

10. Bots and visitors
● LOVE human translations
● HATE automated translations
Consideration: Human Translations

11. One language per page:
● Posts / pages
● Menus
● Taxonomies and terms
● Custom fields
● Images
● Widgets
● Theme/plugin/core texts
● Theme/plugin options
Consideration: All Elements Get Translated

12. What we care and decide:
● Domain
my-site.com
mi-sitio.es
● Parameter
my-site.com/?lang=en
my-site.com/?lang=es
● Directory
my-site.com/en/
my-site.com/es/
Consideration: URL Format

13. What search engines see and care:
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="http://www.domain.com/"/>
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-GB" href="http://www.domain.co.uk/"/>
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="pt-PT" href="http://www.domain.pt/"/>
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es-ES" href="http://www.domain.es/"/>
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-FR" href="http://www.domain.fr/"/>
See more: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077
Consideration: ‘hreflang’ Tags

14. ● Types: Listing, E-commerce, Membership,
LMS, etc.
● Needs a long-term, stable, and scalable
solution.
Consideration: Complicated Sites

15. ● One language per post
WPML - Polylang - Bogo
● All language content in a single post
qTranslate (X) - WPGlobus
● Each language is a sub-site of multi-site network
Multilingual Press
● Machine-generated translated content
Weglot
Approaches

16. ● Themes and plugins are ready for localization
and internationalization.
● When things are complicated (WooCommerce,
listing site, LMS, etc), check more about:
● The compatibility
● Price (free - paid)
● Custom coding
● Test and backup.
Tips

17. ● Avoid all content in a single post approach -
not scalable and long-term.
● Avoid the multi-site option -- too complicated
to manage plugins, do more repeated tasks.
● Don't think the multilingual feature will be in
the core, at least for the short-term.
● Plugin choices
Personal Preferences

18. Discussion time
Ideas Questions

19. ● https://support.google.com/webmasters/
answer/189077
● https://multilingualwp.wordpress.com/
● https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/06/29/
wordcamp-europe-2015-multilingual-
discussion/
References

20. Thanks
Dat Hoang
@tiendathoang
WordCamp Kathmandu 2018