A multilingual website beyond translation

By Uniqode

Adding a language switch is only one part of a multilingual website. The harder questions appear later: who updates each version, which content should differ and what happens when a translation is not ready? Answer those questions before building the templates.

Decide what is shared and what is local

Start with your audiences and the information they need. Some content may be translated directly, such as an organisation’s background. Other content may vary by market, such as services, contacts, events or examples. A page may legitimately exist in one language only.

List the main content types and record whether their structure, text, images and publishing status should be shared or independent. Avoid choosing a single rule for the whole website when the requirements differ.

Give every language an owner

A language version without an owner can become outdated even when the technology works perfectly. Name the person responsible for the source content, translation, review and final publication. Decide who notices that a change requires a translation update.

Separate translation from approval. A translator may understand the language without being authorised to approve a new service description. An approver may need subject knowledge that the website team does not have.

Work through a real update

Imagine an organisation updating an English service page that also exists in Dutch. This is an illustrative workflow:

  1. The service owner updates the English draft and explains what changed.
  2. The Dutch owner is notified that the translation needs review.
  3. The translator updates the affected copy, links and local examples.
  4. The Dutch reviewer checks meaning and local relevance.
  5. The versions are published together or separately according to an agreed rule.
  6. The team checks the public pages and language-switch links.

The important question is what happens between steps one and five. Does the previous Dutch version stay visible? Is it still accurate? Must both versions wait? Agree the answer for each kind of content, especially time-sensitive information.

Test the visitor journey too

A translated page can still lead to the wrong place. Include menus, buttons, forms, confirmation messages, downloads and related content in the review. Check that switching language leads to the equivalent page where one exists, and that missing translations have a deliberate fallback.

Also test longer headings, different date formats and content that needs another image or layout. Your editing workflow and your public design should support the same decisions.

A small ownership worksheet

For each content type, fill in these six lines:

  • Source content and owner: …
  • Required languages and their owners: …
  • Shared fields and permitted local differences: …
  • Translation and approval steps: …
  • What happens while an update is pending: …
  • Review frequency and final responsibility: …

Build around the workflow

Our Port of Amsterdam International project combines a multilingual CMS with flexible page types. The lesson for planning is to consider content structure and day-to-day management together.

If your language versions have become difficult to maintain, explore our Multilingual Website Rebuild. We start by clarifying how your team needs to work, then define the website around it.