The possibilities are endless! In theory, your website can now reach customers all over the world. And in many cases it even makes sense to create a website in two or more languages.
If you already have visitors from different countries, have a multilingual customer base or want to reach an even wider audience, you can use Jimdo Easily create a multilingual website – clear, easy to understand and with a modern design!
Reading: How to create a website with 2 languages
In this article, we will show you how to create a multilingual website in just four steps and give you some tips on sites in multiple languages.
Tips to get you started
Sites with multiple languages are notable for displaying different versions of the same content. It’s important to create a clean website so that your visitors can quickly find the information they are looking for.
Here are some general tips to help you:
1 ) The first item in the navigation menu is your language choice
The first thing your visitors do is choose a language. The languages are the only visible subpages, e.g. “German and English”. All other subpages go to the second or third tier.
2) Plan content in all languages in advance
When we talk about multilingual websites, we really do This refers to websites that exist in parallel with the same pages and text but in different languages.
Think about the structure of your navigation menu in advance so that everything runs smoothly! Rebuilding a website in multiple languages is more cumbersome than doing it from scratch.
3) Translation tools are an option, but maybe not the best solution
There are online tools that will automatically translate your content. If you integrate one of these tools into your website, visitors can change the language with just one click. However, the texts sound robotic and you lose the quality of your content.
Are you okay? Awesome! Read on to find out how to make your website multilingual.
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Note: the images in this article show the Jimdo website builder. You can follow the same steps with Creator. All Creator themes that have a drop-down menu are compatible.
Create a multilingual website in four steps
1) Step one: Create the language selector
In the first level of the navigation menu, create a sub-page for each language you want to offer. Name each page after a language. To do this, use your existing homepage and then delete all other subpages on the first level (don’t forget to save your content first!).
Once you’ve done this, the first level will only contain the Subpages for the languages you want to offer on your website, for example here we can see “Deutsch”, “English” and “Français”:
You’ve already completed the most important step! When visiting your website, your customers can now see that you offer a variety of languages.
2) The Content: Create your content for the first language
This is the heart of your Website: You can now add subpages for your native language. It is best to make a plan beforehand – a short navigation menu with a few sub-pages is usually recommended.
Then add all the information, images, buttons and text so that you can start making public in your native language. Your navigation menu might look something like this:
The benefit of having all the content created in your native language is that you can now You can easily duplicate subpages and use the finished structure for your other language(s). This leads us to the next step.
3) Step two: Add the navigation menu in your additional languages
The next step is to extend your navigation menu for the additional languages. Simply duplicate the finished sub-pages from your first language and paste the copied sub-pages below so that they can be found in step two after the language selection. Remember to translate the subpage names.
You can also add subpages manually without duplicating them. Duplicating just saves you from having to recreate the structure on each subpage later.
Once you’ve translated the subpages from your first language to your second language, your navigation menu should look something like this:
Our tip: It is best to repeat the same navigation menu structure for each language. Visitors may find it annoying if certain sub-pages are missing in a language.
4) Translate your content
Now the basic structure is in place: The first level represents your language selection. In the second level you will find the respective sub-pages.
Now start translating the content of your sub-pages. Remember:
- Text
- Headings
- Buttons (CTAs)
- Alt text
As we’ve said before, we recommend translating as much of your content as possible, but if certain parts aren’t relevant to a particular language, simply delete them.
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Abe What is the best way to translate your texts? As we mentioned earlier, there are multiple online tools that you can use to automatically translate your content, such as Google Translate and DeepL. As you’ve probably noticed, machine-translated texts rarely have the same impact. It’s not the best idea to run your texts through a machine translation tool and then copy the results onto your website.
It has to be said that these tools have their uses. For example, for texts where the meaning of the content is more important than the perfect wording. However, the results will not be 100% correct, so have them checked by a translator or someone who is a native speaker of the language.
For any other text where the wording and intonation is fair as important as the content, a professional translator is the best solution. This is the only way to ensure that the translated texts sound natural and fluent to a first-time speaker. If you don’t know any professional translators for the languages you need, just ask your online network for recommendations. Online job boards for freelance translators and agencies (e.g. ProZ.com) are also a good place to start.
Our tip: We recommend finding someone who speaks the language to proofread your texts if you are not familiar with the language. It’s always difficult to spot mistakes in your own writing, especially in languages you’re not fluent in.
Once you’ve followed these four steps, you can give yourself a pat on the back – your website is now up multilingual and You are ready for international customers!
Examples of multilingual websites
Get inspiration from multilingual websites created by other Jimdo users were created!
A nice example of a multilingual website is that of the Bregenz bike rental from Lake Constance. It offers its visitors content in German and English and has implemented the multilingualism exactly as described in these instructions.
The respective homepages are called “Home DE” and “Home EN”, which is easy to understand for both is German and English speaking visitors. The navigation menu is then translated:
More tips for multilingual websites
SEO for multilingual websites
In the past, a mix of languages on websites could quickly confuse search engines. These days Google is pretty good at identifying different languages on subpages and indexing them correctly.
In fact, having your website available in multiple languages is a great thing for SEO and it will increase your ranking on Google . This is because search engines can now find more keywords in different languages.
Use the potential: If you follow our SEO tips, your multilingual website will rank really well can. The most important thing is to find keywords for the different languages and apply them to the corresponding subpages.
The multilingual shop
The Jimdo shop system currently only works in one language. The shop elements (product overview, buttons, etc.) and the visitor process (fill in contact details, checkout, etc.) can also only be displayed in one language.
You can create your shop in one language, however can be understood by the majority of your customers. That depends on your customer base, but that could be English, for example. Alternatively, you can label your products, categories, etc. in two languages.
Multilingual website checklist
- The first level of menu navigation is the language selection
- The second Step is identical for each language
- All subpages have the same structure (just duplicate the pages!)
- All content has been translated
- Keywords have been implemented in each language were
- You have checked to what extent the legal information, the data protection declaration, etc.need to be translated (please note that the names of the system pages themselves cannot be changed)
- A native speaker has proofread your translations
- The website has been published
As you can see, creating a multilingual website is not much more difficult than creating any other website. The most important thing is good planning – look forward to international customers!
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