This presentation explains the various elements you need to be aware of while creating multilingual websites. It explains what you need to plan and prepare before creating a multilingual site and also what best practice solutions you to overcome typical issues.

1. Simplicity of managing
multilingual websites
Alex Kempkens
Inventor of JoomFish & co-founder of Joomla!

2. Multilingual websites are a challenge of
understanding your needs,
good preparation and good organisation

3. Understanding your needs
• Different languages or even different
cultures and requirements?
• Translation vs. localisation
• Automated services vs. manual translation
• Information management

4. Language vs. Culture
Languages are reflected by Culture and countries have an
✓ Words impact on
✓ The characters ✓ Content you are allowed to present
✓ The direction of reading ✓ Images and descriptions you might
need to change (e.g. different
product specifications)
➡ Changing the language has an direct
✓ Totally different styles in layout and
impact on
presentation of the information
➡ the site/template layout
➡ theorientation and usage of
modules
➡ template elements such as images

5. You need?
Translation Localisation
✓ You translate the website ✓ Localisation is the whole adaption of
information/content to a second the website information/content to a
language second language & country
✓ E.g. images, product prices and other ✓ E.g. images, product descriptions &
structured information remain as is prices are translated and adapted
➡ The translation process focus on the ➡ The customer will see a localised
information visible to the customer and adapted website
! You may present information wrong ! You have a higher effort to manage
e.g. according to country specific and plan your site information
product specifications

6. What to you need?
Technically you can do multilingual sites
differently, you need to know what you need!
• Are you going to translate the whole site?
• Do you want different layouts, structures,
images, information?
• What management of the translation process
you need?

7. Your choice!
Automated translations Manual localisation
✓ Your customer or 3rd party ✓ You translate your content
translates your site
✓ You can use 3rd party services and
✓ The content is unchanged tools to easy the process
➡ An easy way to allow your customer ➡ The customer will see a localised
to view your site in his/her language and adapted website
! You loose the control over the sense ! You have full control over the
of your website content your customer will see
! You have no influence to be conform ! You can adapt the website content
with legal requirements in the according to country specific needs
different language/country and legal requirements
environment

8. Unlock your information
• Decide what
information need to be
• translated
• changed
• localised
• hidden
per language

9. Best practise to start
your multilingual website

10. Understanding your
information
• What is your difference between a single
language and a multilingual website?
• What is your information structure?
• What information you need to provide to
your customer in what language/version?

14. The difference
Single language sites Multilingual sites
• Single audience of • Multiple group of
customers customers
• Focus on the content • Focus on information
as a whole
• Optimised structure
for the information • Structure is different
for the localised
languages

15. Be prepared

16. Be prepared
Think about your multilingual site before
integrating it!
• Avoid fighting the missing translations -
move on completing what is needed
• Use the separation of information when
logical
• Use all available elements to create a
complete user experience in each language

18. Not all information fit

19. Avoid ...
• to worry about duplicate content and
other SEO tricks
• to confuse your user with forcing him to
view your site in a specific language
• to copy everything into a different language
just for the sake of having a second
language on your site

20. Make use of ...
• your menu structure as navigation and
limitation of your website in each language
• specialized information structures such as
language related sections/categories
• specialized information per language rather
than general translation of everything

21. Multilingual websites are fun!
Let them fly!

22. Questions?
More?
alex.kempkens@thinknetwork.com
http://twitter.com/akempkens
https://www.xing.com/profile/Alex_Kempkens
http://www.linkedin.com/in/akempkens