Building Multilingual Websites for Web Development

As the web becomes more international, building websites that support multilingual is becoming a necessity for brands who want to reach customers worldwide. This means offering key information and functionality translated into the languages your target market speaks.

Some things to keep in mind when developing multilingual websites:

Plan for Internationalization

From the outset, design your website’s code, templates and architecture with localization in mind. Make sure all:

•Text elements use variables that can be easily swapped out.

• URLs have language parameters that point to the right content.
• Forms store input in a standardized way across languages.
• Images and media have alt text in multiple languages.
• Layouts are flexible enough to accommodate longer translated text.

Handle Language Switching

Allow users to easily switch the language of your site through:

• Dropdown selectors – Lists of language names that switch the page when selected.
• Flag icons – In addition, country flag symbols that represent each language option.
• URLs – Unique URLs for each language version of the site, i.e. yoursite.com/en, yoursite.com/es, etc.

Start with Key Languages

Begin by translating your website into 2-3 of the most widely spoken languages your target audience uses. These are likely to be:

• English
• Spanish
• French
• Mandarin Chinese
• Arabic
• Hindi

Also, prioritize critical pages like your home page, about page and contact forms first to provide basic site access in multiple languages.

Use a Translation Management System

Leverage a software system that makes the localization process easier by:

• Storing all your translatable text and media in a central database.
• Also, allowing translators to access and modify only elements assigned to them.
• Generating translated web pages from the database values.
• Highlighting untranslated or out-of-date content.
• Enabling in-Then, context previews of pages in different languages.

Continuously Improve

As your multilingual site grows, work to:

• Translate more pages and sections.
• Hire professional translators to ensure accuracy and localize tone.
• Audit pages regularly for any new content that requires localization.
• Gather and implement localization feedback from your global users.

A multilingual approach can help remove linguistic barriers for an international audience, but it requires an ongoing commitment to translation, cultural adaptation and continual improvement.