I find that most English-written blogs offer international language translations, while few foreign language blogs offer translations in other languages. Why?
If you write a WordPress blog in a non-English language, consider adding a web translation Plugin to your blog so English speakers, and those in other languages, can read your blog.
My review of Translation and Multilingual WordPress Plugins may help, but the ones to start with are:
- Global Translator WordPress Plugin by Nothing2Hide uses either or both of the Google Translation or the Babelfish Translation Engines and now has improved caching and other features which makes this one of the most popular free translation WordPress Plugins.
- Angsuman’s Translator Plugin Pro is a one of several of his WordPress Plugins you can buy for top notch translations, and often used by business blogs.
- EHT Translate WordPress Plugin works with Google to provide translation of your WordPress blog posts.
There are a few other WordPress Plugins which use Google’s translation services, which, as many admit, isn’t the best quality of machine translation.
Another one in the early stages of development is the WordPress Plugin for the Worldwide Lexicon Project (WWL) which enables readers to translate posts in a wiki-fashion, allowing them to edit and score translations which improves a blog’s multilingual abilities. It’s interesting as it does not involve direct blogger involvement but relies upon reader participation on the blog, if I understand how it works. I’d love to hear more from those who have actually used this.
If you are using a translation Plugin on your blog, make sure you use a cache Plugin such as WP-Cache WordPress Plugin or WordPress Super Cache Plugin, as the translation can increase the load on your site and database.
Translating Your Own Blog’s Content
If you are fluent in more than one language, why not blog in all the languages? You can translate your own blog posts, or just blog different posts in different languages. Or include specific foreign language text within your blog posts.
Gengo Multi-Lingual Blogger WordPress Plugin, which I reviewed, works for those who blog in more than one language. It does not translate, but makes the process of switching from one language to another in WordPress much easier. It does require some familiarity with WordPress template files and Themes to use and there is the helpful Gengo WordPress Plugin Support Forum.
Polyglot 2.0 helps to make WordPress bilingual, too. It allows easy switching from the different languages and conversion of character codes within the post content. For tips on using this on WordPress 2.1, see Making WordPress Multilingual.
Another multi-language WordPress Plugin is jLanguage. Using bracketed commands around the language text of your choice, the Plugin will automatically help the browser recognize the language characters for better conversion. It will not translate but acts as a aid to convert the letters characters properly, a frustrating problem many bloggers covering multiple languages face.
Helping WordPress Improve It’s International Coverage
If you are fluent in English and other languages, you can help improve the quality of translations and the international nature of WordPress.
WordPress is available in many different languages listed in the WordPress in Your Language article on the WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress Users, along with information on support for WordPress in different languages.
To help translate WordPress, read the Codex article on Translating WordPress. You can also participate in the online translation, volunteer program called translate.wordpress.com to help translate WordPress and WordPress.com structure and code terms and phrases.
If you want to help translate and internationalize WordPress Plugins, read the article by Weblog Tools Collection on “Localizing a WordPress Plugin Using poEdit”, with tips for helping WordPress Plugin authors to make their WordPress Plugin international, adding hooks and features for easy translation options, helping your Plugin cross international borders. See also:
- Weblog Tools Collection – WordPress Translations: mo and po files.
- 6 Tips for Localizing Your WordPress Plugin by Pressed Words
- John Godley’s Localizing WordPress Themes and Plugins
Your assistance is always welcome to help make WordPress more international.
Related Articles
- WordPress in Your Language
- Blogging in More Than One Language
- WordPress Help in Your Language
- Translation and Multilingual WordPress Plugins
- Blogging Outside of Your Community By Not Blogging in Your Native Tongue
- Bring Something New to the Blog Table, Please
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