Multilingual CMS: how to translate a website
CMS (Content Management Systems) have become a widely chosen tool for web page creators. The ease of use, affordability, and the vast number of resources they offer have increased their popularity among the public.
On the other hand, given the well-established necessity for companies aiming to expand internationally to translate their websites into other languages, many developers wonder how they can translate their pages using these CMS. Is it easy to do it yourself, or is it better to delegate the task to a translator or an agency to achieve better results or optimize available time?
What is a CMS?
Professionals with a less technical background or younger developers may not be aware that, in the past, creating websites was quite a cumbersome process. CMSs are software applications that allow users to create, publish, and manage web content in a very intuitive way. Let’s dive in to understand why CMSs are so useful today.
Web sites are created using hypertext coded in HTML (HyperText Markup Language), a markup language that was traditionally written in text editors such as the classic Windows Notepad or more advanced editors. Browsers like Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or the veteran Internet Explorer interpret the HTML code and display the final result on the screen.
The evolution of web development: from HTML to CMS
The truth is that the HTML syntax was somewhat limited and didn’t offer much flexibility to web creators. Over time, it was complemented by other elements such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags, and JavaScript. By combining these tools in a balanced way, entire websites with a professional touch could be created, but it required many hours of work behind the scenes.
The great advantages of CMSs is that they offer a graphical interface through which you can insert the desired elements into the webpage (text, images, videos, links, tables, numbered lists, forms, action buttons…) and manage the site (track the number of visits, add and remove pages, manage a blog…) in a relatively simple and intuitive way.
Additionally, CMSs provide design templates to ensure visual consistency across all elements of the website. Each page created inherits the same combination of colours, fonts, and margins, ensuring a consistent aesthetic. This makes life much easier for the web designer
Foto de Michał Parzuchowski en Unsplash
How to translate a website?
Extract the text and reinsert it once translated
When translating a website, it is common to use a computer-assisted translation (CAT) tool If this technology were to be used professionally and properly, the ideal approach would be to hire a professional translator.
The process of translating a website’s content into another language is quite simple. First, the website administrator will need to extract the texts to be translated by exporting them from the CMS. Next, they will send the files containing the original texts to the translator, who will import them into the CAT tool they typically work with. This way, the professional will be able to translate the texts directly while preserving their format. Finally, the translations only need to be sent to the administrator, who will import them into the CMS.
Translate directly from the CMS
Since the use of CMSs has become so widespread, the option gaining the most traction is translating the texts directly within the content management system, so there is no need to transfer the text for separate translation. This is possible thanks to translation plugins that integrate with CMSs
However, let’s not forget that what these tools offer is an automatic translation that would need to be reviewed by the website administrator before being published online. However, the administrator might fully trust the result and leave it as is, even at the risk of allowing:
- Sentences that are difficult to read or not naturally constructed.
- Unadapted polysemic terms.
- Expressions lacking localization to the target language.
Trust a professional translation company
When time is pressing or there are not enough resources and knowledge, the best option might be to delegate the website translation to a specialized agency that handles everything related to IT and the more technical aspects of website management.
Among all the options available on the market, the ideal choice is to hire one that uses translation platforms and plugins integrated into the client’s CMS. This way, website texts can be translated without the client having to worry about preparing the files.
How to translate your CMS to optimize multilingual content management?
Thanks to CMSs and CAT tools used by specialized translation agencies, it is possible to automate the export and import of the texts being worked on. As a result, the use of these two technologies saves time by extracting and returning a set of texts to the CMS.
At Sanscrit, we know how to translate a website: we have the right tools to translate directly from a CMS, and we also collaborate with a wide range of professional translators specializing in multiple fields.
Do you need to translate your website?
Do you need a translator in Barcelona to localise your website content? Are you looking for a technical translator to translate the content of your e-commerce site, taking into account the keywords of your choice? Contact us through the following questionnaire and we will send you your budget for the professional translation, as soon as possible, without compromise.
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