WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for building websites today, used for everything from small business sites to large e-commerce platforms. At Modus Language Services Co., Ltd., many of our business and hotel clients have WordPress websites and come to us for translation services. We always recommend using WPML as the main plugin to create multilingual directories and add translations to their websites efficiently.
Today, we will walk you through the process of adding WPML to your WordPress website and setting it up so that your staff can manage translations or you can outsource the process to translators or translation companies like ours.
Note: We provide a full WPML installation and setup service (including an annual license) as part of our website translation services. The easiest option is to let us handle it for you 😉. However, if you want to do it yourself, keep reading.
Before you start, ensure that your website’s original content is finalized and optimized. Use SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to ensure your content is optimized for search engines, and make sure your website and images are optimized for the best performance.
Translate a WordPress Website using WPML
Start by going to the WPML website and clicking on Buy and Download. Once you have purchased a WPML license for your website and downloaded the installation files, go to your WordPress Dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New Plugin, and upload the WPML file you downloaded. Unlike free plugins, WPML cannot be installed directly from the WordPress repository. Once installed, WPML will guide you through a step-by-step setup. Be sure to select “Translate What You Choose” during this process. Once completed, you will see WPML listed in your WordPress dashboard.
Click on WPML > Languages, where you can add the languages you want to translate your website into. If the language you need is not listed, you can manually add it by clicking Edit Languages. This feature is useful when adding regional language variations, such as English (Singapore) or English (Canada), which might require different content despite being in the same language. Be sure to select your website’s default language at this stage.
Next, choose your URL format for multilingual pages. WPML provides three options:
- Different languages in directories – e.g.,
yourwebsite.com/ja/(recommended for SEO and easier management) - Different domains per language – e.g.,
ja.yourwebsite.com - Language parameter in URL – e.g.,
yourwebsite.com?lang=ja
We usually recommend option 1 because it is both SEO-friendly and easier to manage. The rest of the settings in this section are self-explanatory—review each option and select what works best for your website. The Custom Language Selector can sometimes be tricky, but experimenting with different styles will help you find what you like best.
If your website was built using a WordPress theme, you can move directly to Translation Management. However, if it was created using a custom theme, you may need to adjust settings to specify which parts of the site should be translated. One critical setting to review is Automatic Translation—we strongly recommend turning off all automatic translation engines and selecting “Let me review it before it gets published” to prevent any unintended translations from being published without your approval.
In Translation Management, you can select which content to translate, such as pages, posts, or contact forms. You’ll also see a Translators tab, where you can either add individual translators or activate a Translation Service. At Modus Language Services, we typically use the Translation Service option to connect WPML with our translation management system, though this requires ensuring that WPML pulls and sends all necessary content for translation.
Once translators have been added, return to the Translation Management Dashboard, select the content for translation, and choose from the following options:
- Translate – Assign the translation to a translator
- Duplicate Content – Copy the content in its original language for manual editing
- Do Nothing – Leave the content untranslated
If you choose Duplicate Content, go to the page, change the language, and click Edit. Select Translate Independently, then paste the translated content (whether done internally or by a translator like us), and click Publish.
If you select Assign to a Translator, WPML will add the content to the Translation Basket, where you can assign jobs to a translator or send them to a connected translation service. Once the translation is complete, you can sync the translations from the translation service or review them using WPML’s Translation Editor.
You can also manually add translations by navigating to each page and clicking Edit Translation in the right-side panel of the WordPress editor. You’ll then have the option to translate using either the standard WordPress editor or WPML’s Translation Editor.
A crucial step is to hide incomplete translations in the Language Settings section. We recommend hiding all new languages until the translations are finalized. If hidden, the new language will not be visible to anyone—including you—unless you enable Show Hidden Languages in your WordPress user profile settings.
Some more advanced settings and detailed steps have not been covered here. If you’re unsure about anything or prefer professional assistance, feel free to contact us. We have been translating WordPress websites for over five years and have a dedicated technical support team to help you set up WPML correctly for a seamless multilingual experience.
WPML is a powerful tool for creating a multilingual WordPress website, but a proper setup is crucial for smooth operation. Whether you choose to manage translations in-house or partner with a translation provider, following these steps will ensure your website is accessible to a global audience.
If you have any questions, reach out to us—we’d be happy to help!