WordPress is gaining popularity as CMS platform. It is simple, requires not too much learning and there are lots of themes available to choose from. However, bare WordPress installation lacks multi-language support. This is unsuitable for some markets, especially if you target several countries. 
There are 2 main strategies how to create multi-lingual support for WordPress. First one is auto-translation plugins, such as Global Translator. This class of plugins translate posts and pages using automated translation engines like Google Translate, Bablefish and so on. This approach allows getting lots of poor translations, but it might be useful when targeting broad audience. It was never too suitable for my tastes so I looked for other solution.
There were couple of translation plugins that allowed to create multi-lingual posts in WordPress. However, WPML is best by far. WPML stands for “WordPress Multi-Lingual” plugin (family of plugins, precisely) and suits my needs perfectly. It integrates with WordPress easily, supports custom post types with Types plugin and so on. It works with almost all WordPress themes and eases the content translation through its sub-plugins.
I have started using this plugin in 2010, and even got commercial its version this year. Yes, WPML is fully commercial plugin now. Its license is highly suitable for developers, as you pay once to get full version with all the updates for one year. You can use the plugin for any site you want. After that, the WPML plugin is yours to keep, but you won’t get updates without renewing its license.
The single plugin that can compete with WPML, is qTranslate. For me, WPML is easier to manage and more configurable, well-tested with several versions of wordpress.
You can checkout WPML on WPML.Org
Categories: Programming
Giedrius Majauskas
I am a internet company owner and project manager living at Lithuania. I am interested in computer security, health and technology topics.
2 Comments
Katie Camacho · March 29, 2012 at 9:11 am
Hi Giedrius, I found this post useful. The qTranslate plugin makes WordPress very multilingual friendly & is actually linked with a professional translation agency Live Translation which displays the price of the translation service in WordPress. It’s compatible with many SEO plugins and is well maintained so it is always compatible with recent releases of WordPress. Users can buy professional human translated website posts directly from the WordPress dashboard using PayPal, and the text is returned directly into WordPress. Yes as simple as that!
Dominykas · May 5, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Very nice blog post 🙂 Actually, WPML is the best choice for a multilingual site, it includes everything. Moreover, WPML supports e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, MarketPress, so you can create a completely multilingual e-commerce site 🙂 If you’re using Types plugin, you have to try WP Views plugin, I think you’ll like it 🙂 It helps to create complete websites without coding.