How to Translate Your WordPress Site in Minutes: A Step-by-Step Guide

For every day that your WordPress site remains in a single language, you’re losing potential customers. International visitors abandon websites they can’t read, while translated content opens your pages to global audiences.

So how do you translate a WordPress site? Dedicated translation tools are the best and most efficient option. Translating your website doesn’t need to be slow, expensive, or technical. With tools like Weglot, you can transform your single-language website into a multilingual one in under 10 minutes, bringing immediate benefits:

• Cost savings: Translation tools reduce the workload for professional translators, saving hourly rates through automation.
• Speed: Full site translations are instant, and future content uploaded to your site is instantly translated into your international languages.
• Consistency: Dedicated tools help to maintain terminology across all of your content, preserving brand voice and clarity throughout your site.

This guide shows you how to set up Weglot and translate your WordPress with ease. Read on to discover how easy it is to break language barriers, tailor your message to every visitor, and grow your business worldwide.

Translation Methods for WordPress Sites

There are three main translation methods to choose from:

1. Machine translation is software that instantly converts content between languages.
2. Manual translation is human translators creating each translation by hand.
3. Hybrid approaches combine machine translation with human editing for optimal results.

Each method offers different advantages. Machine translation gives instant results at lower overall costs than hiring a human each time. Manual translations can offer perfect accuracy, cultural adaptation, and nuanced language. A hybrid approach balances speed and quality, offering the best of both worlds.

Weglot offers all three approaches.

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‍How to Translate Your WordPress Site with Weglot

Weglot creates a multilingual WordPress site in minutes. First, register for a Weglot account. Then install the Weglot plugin from the WordPress.org repository.

Navigate to the Weglot section in your WordPress dashboard. Enter the API key from your Weglot account. Select your site’s default language, then choose your target translation languages.

Select Save Changes. Weglot will translate 100% of your site’s content, including posts, pages, themes, and plugins. Your multilingual website is ready in minutes.

While you can translate your WordPress site manually through .po files or multisite networks, WordPress plugins like Weglot – which actually work with any CMS – handle complex technical requirements automatically.

Check your translations using the frontend language switcher. It appears in your site’s bottom-right corner:

Weglot combines DeepL, Google Translate, and Bing for accurate translations. Be aware that first-time page visits may load slowly during the initial translation processing stage, although subsequent visits load instantly from cache.

The plugin generates dedicated URLs for each language version, offering both subdirectories and subdomains. It implements hreflang tags automatically to serve visitors content in their geographical language, while providing a manual language switcher for user preference. Metadata is also translated, helping overseas search engines index your translated pages and improving your international visibility.

How to Manually Refine Automatic Translations

Manual refinement improves machine translations for accuracy and style, improving translation quality. Weglot offers three refinement methods after initial translation:

1. Manage translations via the Weglot dashboard: View original text alongside translations. Edit translations directly in the interface.

2. Create translator accounts: Give freelancers limited dashboard access. They can refine translations without full account control.
3. Outsource translations: Send content directly to professional services without leaving the Weglot dashboard. This suits content requiring expert translation.

The Visual Editor shows live previews while editing translations. You can hover over any text and click the pencil icon to edit:

What’s more, you can set rules for specific terms through the Translation Glossary. Here you can define how terms translate (or stay untranslated) across your site. This is super-handy for maintaining brand terms and product names. It also ensures that your translation preferences are met in cases where a word or phrase has multiple meanings.

How to Add a Language Switcher to Your WordPress Site

A language switcher is a navigation element that lets visitors automatically translate your WordPress site to their preferred language. Language switchers are important as they help increase customer satisfaction and sales potential. Weglot allows for full language switcher customization and provides multiple implementation methods.

Four ways to add the language switcher:

• Menu integration: Add as separate menu items or dropdown.
• Widget placement: Use the WordPress widget in sidebars.
• Shortcode insertion: Place [weglot_switcher] anywhere in content.
• HTML implementation: Add directly to theme files.

For floating button placement, use custom CSS positioning. You can also use a dedicated floating button plugin alongside Weglot’s switcher shortcode.

This functionality helps visitors find content in their language. Although Weglot implements hreflang tags to automatically serve a geographically-relevant language version of your site, some regions may have multiple languages and user preferences.

Take Your WordPress Site Global

Translating your WordPress site doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. With Weglot, you can have a fully multilingual website running in minutes, complete with automatic translations, customizable language switchers, and SEO-ready translated content.

Start your 14-day free trial today and see how easy it is to connect with international customers in their own language.