This semester in Website Localization, we learned how to localize a website using different tools. We learned how to make a static website with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We learned how to use WordPress and Drupal to localize a website and make it multilingual. We also learned how to use proxy localization to localize a website.
For our final project, my group localized a website with a plugin in WordPress that we’ve never learned to use before. The plugin was WPGlobus and here’s how we used it to localize our website.
How Does WPGlobus Work?
First, we installed the plugin WPGlobus. Then we went to its interface and added the target language and a language switcher. After that, we went to pages and started translating. After all the pages were translated and published, we began to translate menus and widgets. And when that was finished, the website was basically localized.
Advantages & Disadvantages
After using this plugin to localize our website, we found that there were both advantages and disadvantages to it.
For the advantages, the biggest one is that it has a very simple and user-friendly interface. You only need to do one thing there which is to add the target languages and a language switcher. You can choose where and how you want to display your language switcher. You can display it on the menu with a language code, a full name (in target language), a flag, or a full name plus a flag. The second advantage is that you can directly translate pages, menus, and widgets in WordPress without using any additional plugins. There’s no need to export anything and you can easily switch back and forth between different languages. The third advantage is that it integrates perfectly with WordPress. You can choose to display the dashboard in different languages and translate the site title and tagline directly in settings. It even incorporates themes. You can translate different parts of the theme just by customizing it.
For the disadvantages, the first and foremost disadvantage is that you can’t export translation. This is especially bad for large websites that have a lot of content to translate, which requires a CAT tool with features like translation memory and machine translation. Also, translating directly in WordPress requires a basic understanding of Content Management System which most translators don’t have. The second disadvantage is that it can’t translate strings. A lot of widgets and themes have strings. With other multilingual plugins like WPML and Polylang, you can easily locate any strings and translate them, but you can’t do that with WPGlobus. The third disadvantage is that because you can’t export translation, you have to create a new account for each translator so that they have access to the admin page of the website. Since they are not familiar with Content Management System, they could easily mess something up or break the website. You could choose to train them beforehand, but it’s a time and cost consuming process.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we think that this plugin is suitable for small websites where there’s not a lot of content. But for large websites, it’s better to use WPML or Polylang so that you can export translation to a CAT tool where you can leverage resources like translation memory and machine translation to improve the efficiency of translation. However, its simple and user-friendly interface makes it a lot easier to learn than other multilingual plugins. Anyone with a basic knowledge of WordPress can use it without any problem. And it’s free. Multilingual plugins like WPML can support more advanced features but you have to pay an annual fee to get them. If you don’t want to spend any money on multilingual plugins, WPGlobus is your best choice.
