TABLE OF CONTENTS
1, 2, 3 languages and more: Minos is compatible with many WordPress plugins that enable translation and management of pages in multiple languages.
For multilingual sites, Minos works with the Polylang plugin by default. Once the plugin is installed, you can select the different languages you want in the dedicated menu: left bar, at the bottom.
In this tab, you can choose a language from all the available options, rename it if necessary, choose a flag for it, and specify its reading direction.
In the language settings, you can also choose what will be translatable on your site:
This settings tab is also where you translate strings.
Strings are all the words and phrases on the site that are not managed in blocks.
For example (headings in the footer):
Some sites have very few of these types of texts; others have hundreds.
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In the preview, the translations visible on your page do not appear.
In the configuration (of all indexes and advanced block pages, the 404 page, and the search page), you will see some fields that are grayed out. You are invited to change the text directly in Polylang (access: Left menu, Languages tab, then Translations).
This somewhat special string of characters begins with front. and may be visible on your site if it has not been modified.
In the preview
On the left, the Index page title field is grayed out. On the right, the special character string.
In Polylang
Note: in the preview, the special character string will always remain, even after adding translations in Polylang. To see if the translation has been saved, you need to go to the relevant pages on your site.
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When content is available in several languages, it is sometimes easier to work with only one or the other. You can choose the language to display or view them all using the button in the top bar:
Once you have chosen and configured the languages, it's time to move on to the actual translation of your content.
<aside> 🔥 The plugin mentioned here allows you to manage translated content. It does not translate from one language to another itself! For this, you will need to use other translation software, or hire a professional translator.
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In the list of your pages (or any other type of content, such as posts, Custom Post Types, etc.), language information is indicated by small flags to the right of the line:
On a page, the language settings and information are located at the bottom right.
Here, for example, the page is in French.
Before doing anything, save your page as a precaution.
To translate it into English, click on the + next to the English flag.
You will be taken to a new, completely blank page, which you can name.
At this point, you can choose to:
either copy and paste the page in French to have an identical structure in English (see the chapter of this guide that explains how to do this - Copy and paste page)
→ you will then need to translate each field in each block
or create a new page from scratch in English with its own blocks, content, visuals, etc.
Once your page is complete, save it.
On this new page, you will see that it is linked to its other versions in other languages: the titles of the other versions appear in the fields next to their respective flags.
You can also navigate from one version to another by clicking on the pencil next to the flag.
The frontend language selection menu (appearance according to the approved design) only allows you to switch between languages for a page if a translation of that page exists.
<aside> 🙂 NB: Despite an identical design, the appearance of your page may vary significantly from one language to another - this is due to the specific characteristics of each language!
Some languages require more characters than others, and this can affect the aesthetics of a title, button, or menu. This is even more true if one of your languages uses ideograms or is read from right to left.
If this is an important issue for you, you can use compositions and/or request a design for each language - this way you can be sure that it is suitable
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On Minos, when you configure the header, simply click and drag the “Language Selector” block to position it where you want it in the menu.