Going Multilingual with WordPress Core

WordPress Vienna November 2014 Meetup

Thomas Kräftner / @tkraftner

What does multilingual actually mean?

  • different language?
  • different country?
  • different ways of communicating?

Internationalization and Localization

Simply said:

  • Internationalization = preparation to enable Localization
  • Localization = actually translating
_e( 'text to translate', 'my-plugin' );

https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/internationalization/how-to-internationalize-your-plugin/
https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/functionality/internationalization/

Localization

Localization ≠ simply translating text to another language

  • dialects
  • writing direction
  • formats (date/time/numbers)
  • symbols
  • colors
  • …
  • Sessel vs. Stuhl
  • 19:00 vs. 7:00 PM
  • thumbs up = middle finger in middle east *
  • color for death: China: white / Western: black
  • …


* Source

What do we localize?

  • Interface (Backend, Theme)
  • Content (Page/Post Content)
Interface (green) / Content (red)

Going multilingual

Interface

  • WordPress Core
  • Plugins
  • Themes

Core

  • easy & built in
  • a lot of translations ready to deploy
Available locales

WordPress in Your Language

Plugins & Themes

  • it depends …
  • often included …
  • … or ready to translate yourself

Check with Pig Latin Plugin
Translate with poedit

Content

This is where the fun begins …

Multiple approches

Complete Overview

Going multilingual with WordPress Core functions

Single Language

  • + simple maintenance
  • + simple for visitors
  • - well, just one language

Mixed Languages

  • + still simple maintenance
  • - might be confusing or frustrating for readers
  • - no proper relations between translations

Categorized Languages

Just abuse categories for languages

  • + still pretty simple
  • +/- some separation
  • - still no proper relations between translations

Multiple Sites or Multisite

  • + totally separate (theme, plugins, content can vary)
  • + still only uses core functions
  • + translatable interface
  • - plugins with multisite issues
  • - still no proper relations between translations
  • - site setup more complex

Think about your use case

"The most comprehensive or versatile solution doesn't have to be the best for you."
"If you need more features have a look at Multilingual Plugins."

Thanks for listening!

Thomas Kräftner / @tkraftner


http://kraftner.com/talks/multilingual-with-core


Further reading: