Do you want to translate WordPress websites and don’t know how? Well, you came to the right place. It is very easy to translate a website into any language.
There are a couple of ways to translate a website but in this tutorial, I will use the plugin called TranslatePress.
It is one of the best plugins I’ve used. Very clean and easy to use. You can translate every page and element on your website with this plugin.
But it works slightly differently than other plugins such as PolyLang. With PolyLang, you have to create additional pages for every language you add.
And that’s not the case with TranslatePress. It’s much cleaner.
Table of Contents
How TranslatePress Works
With TranslatePress you don’t create duplicate pages for every language. You translate WordPress pages and post straight from the page. Like WordPress customizer.
First, you choose the languages you want to add and then translate every text, phrase, or element on any page you like.
Also, it comes with a language switcher widget that can be inserted into different sections of your website.
This way is much easier and faster to translate WordPress pages & posts. Also, it has an automatic translation option, but I’ve never used it. I prefer manual translation.
Now, let’s dive in and see how we can translate anything on the WordPress website.
TranslatePress General Settings
First, we have to install the TranslatePress plugin. Go to the plugins repository, install & activate the plugin.
After the activation, you will see a new section under your Settings. From here we have to make some changes to general settings.
First of all, we have to choose the default language. It is a language your website uses right now. In my case, it is English.
Then, below that, you can add new languages. Search for your desired language and click the Add button. I added German as my additional language.
Then we have to modify the language switcher. TranslatePress offers three different options for the switcher:
- Shortcode – You can copy & paste this shortcode wherever you want.
- Menu Item – Add the switcher as a menu item from Appearance > Menus.
- Floating Switcher – TranslatePress default widget.
You are free to use which one you like. And you are able to choose different display options for each option.
Display flags & language names, only flags, short names, etc. For the floating widget, you can choose between dark & light interfaces, and it can be displayed top or bottom of the page.
I like the floating option the most but you can use the menu option or even a shortcode one. It is very flexible.
After you modify all of this, click the Save Changes button. Now it is time to translate WordPress websites.
Translate Pages & Posts
We have a default language selected, added additional language. And now it’s time to translate our website. And let’s see how easy it is.
Go to any page on your website and on the top bar you will see the Translate Page tab. Click on it.
Now, we are in translation mode and it looks like the WordPress customizer. In order to translate WordPress pages, hover over any text and you will see the blue pencil icon.
Click on that icon and on the left side you will see that text in the default language input. And below that, you will see an empty input for the new language.
Input translation to your language and click the Save Translation button on the top.
Now, close the editor, go to that page and change the language from the switcher and you will see that text is updated and translated. In my case, it is from English to German.
That’s it. This is how you translate WordPress websites with TranslatePress. You can translate every heading, paragraph, or link.
Also, TranslatePress allows you to choose different images for different languages. Works the same way. Click on the image and change the path to it.
But remember that for every change you make, you have to press the Save Translation every time.
Conclusion
As you can see, TranslatePress makes it easier to translate WordPress websites. It allows you to add as many languages as you want, translates every text on your pages, and also has different options for language switcher.
Great for business, corporate, and landing pages. You can use it with blogs too, but if you have many blog posts, I recommend PolyLang.
