How to Translate a WordPress Website with WPML

If you are planning to enter new global markets and serve non-English speaking audiences, you should start building a multilingual WordPress website. While handling translation tasks for your website, you can seek help from a wide range of WordPress Translation Plugins.

In today’s post, we’ll explore how to translate WordPress websites with WPML and your Language Service Provider (or Translation Agency).

Why you should translate your WordPress Website?

It is beyond doubt that a website is a gateway to reach your company’s audience. Your company’s website makes the first impression on your target audiences and has a direct impact on whether they want to stick around and engage with your company or not. Having a well-content and eye-catching design website might a good solution to draw the local audiences’ attention. But is it enough for your company when seeking global success? The answer is a definite no. To make a big splash in a global market, you have no choice but to translating and localizing your WordPress website.

Reaching your global audience

More than half of all websites in the world are in English while only 25% of the population speak this language. Why limit your website to one language and miss out on millions or even billions of potential buyers in other non-speaking English countries when you can localize your website quickly and qualitatively with our service?

Increasing your brand credibility

When you speak the language that your global audience understands and displays your website with images, design, and style suitable for the target nation’s culture, you can avoid regretful miscommunication and misunderstanding. This is critical for making a good impression and building brand trust in your audience.

Improving your website traffic

Optimized keywords and meta-tag information ensure the on-page SEO of your website in the new market. Your visibility on search engines will increase, which drives more organic traffic to your website.

WordPress supports 169 languages

WordPress platform has been translated into 169 languages. This creates a huge opportunity for your company to expand your markets by translating and localizing your website and take on non-English speaking clients all around the world. All you need is to choose a suitable WordPress multilingual plugins.

Why you should use WPML Plugin?

There are a great number of plugins for translation content in WordPress. But we will focus on WPML – one of the most popular WordPress Multilingual Plugins that help you build a multilingual website by letting you write and translate content into different languages. WPML is trusted by almost a million sites in the world due to its outstanding features:

• • • Complete: With WPML you can translate pages, posts, custom types, taxonomy, menus, and even the theme’s texts.
    • Compatible: Every theme or plugin that uses WordPress API runs multilingual with WPML.
    • Great for Multilingual SEO: You can have full control over how URLs look and you can set SEO meta information for translations. All translations on your website are linked together.

What you’ll need to produce a multilingual website?

To send the content that needs translating to your Language Service Provider, you should ensure to install the following plugins on your website:

1. Multilingual CMS – the core plugin.

2. Translation Management – allows you to connect to your Language Service Provider.

3. String Translation – allows you to translate interface strings.

You need an account to download these plugins. After logging in, go to the WPML -> Translation Management page, you will find the Translation Services tab. Choose the name of your Language Service Provider provided in this tab.

If you need help with the WPML plugin, check out the Getting Started Guide here.

How to translate your WordPress Website with WPML?

So how does it work to create a Multilingual WordPress Website with WPML Plugin? It’s not too difficult. All it takes is 3 simple steps below:

Step 1: Connecting your website to your Language Service Provider

You will need the API Token to connect WPML to your Language Service Provider.

Go to WPML -> Translation Management to select your translation method. Click the button Yes, show me the available translation services.

Find your Language Service Provider’s name on the list of translation services. Then click Activate. 

Then you will see a new screen. Choose whether you already have an account or need to register only.

If you already have an account, click Yes, I already have an account and enter your token on the following screen.

If you clicked No, I don’t have an account, you can request an account and your API Token by visiting Language Service Provider’s contact page.

Once you have your API Token, go to the WPML -> Translation Management page, you will find the Translation Services tab. There, enter your API Token.

Now, your Language Service Provider account and your website are connected.

Step 2: Sending content for translation

Sending the content

First, click on the Translation Dashboard to send content for translation. On this tab, select page(s) that need translating and choose which languages to translate into.

Next, click Add selected content to translation basket.

When you have finished adding content to the basket, choose the Translation Basket tab.

Review the content, set a name and a suggested deadline for your project. Don’t forget to choose the types of translators.

Finally, click Send all items for translation.

Receiving a quotation and authorizing your translation

After receiving your content, the Language Service Provider will be notified instantly and will send you a quote after analyzing the details of your content.  If you agree with the price, deadlines, and terms of conditions, the Language Service Provider will start the translating process.

Step 3: Receiving completed translations

Your Language Service Provider will deliver the translations to your website as soon as they are ready.

The translations will be delivered automatically or manually fetched from your WordPress admin panel. In the former choice, you can check the status of translation jobs and receive the files automatically as they are completed. In the latter choice, you can download the completed translations from the WPML -> Translation Management page. Click Check status and get translations. 

Note: In case you want to cancel the translation, you need to contact your Language Service Provider directly. They are the only one who has the authority to cancel the project.

GTE Localize is pleased to announce that we have recently partnered up with WPML. The collaboration between GTE Localize and WPML enables our company to automatically and seamlessly translate and localize our clients’ website content directly on the WordPress platform. We offer comprehensive website translation with competitive rates for translation and localization services in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Lao, Indonesian, Khmer, Malay, Burmese, Vietnamese, Tagalog performed by our team of hundreds of experienced native linguists and subject-matter experts. If you want to translate a website with WPML and GTE Localize, you can follow the instruction here or contact us for more information.

Image credit: WPML