Luckily, WordPress comes with these special characters built-in, which means you will not need any additional plugins to do so. However, it can be confusing to use these characters for the first time.

Today, I will demonstrate how to use language accents in WordPress for both the Gutenberg and classic editor.

Why Use Special Characters?

Special characters serve one purpose, to make your content look more professional. For example, let’s say you were trying to talk about the Nestlé company. If you notice, the last “e” is the special character “é.”

The official name of the company includes this language accent, but if you don’t know how to type accents in WordPress, the best you can do is “Nestle” which is incorrect. Of course, language accents are just one part of the special characters in WordPress.

You can add foreign money symbols like Euros (€) or Pounds (£) as well, which might be necessary for overseas business. A variety of common math symbols are also available to use.

Whenever you use a special character, it should always make your content more accurate.

Enabling the Editor

If you don’t have the toolbar available that displays the character symbols, you can activate it in WordPress.

Simply click the “Toggle Toolbar” button.

It’s also important to note that if you have TinyMCE Advanced installed, the special character button should be activated by default. If not, you can quickly add it using TinyMCE Advanced’s settings.

Gutenberg Method

Gutenberg is the default editor of WordPress. Unfortunately, the editor does not put this in an obvious spot. You might expect a special character’s icon to have a shortcut in the paragraph block, but it does not.

Instead, you need to add a Classic block. To do so, click on the “+” button and select the classic block.

This is essentially the classic editor in block form. Click on the special characters tool.

You will now see a full list of built-in special characters that you can select by clicking on.

Of course, there is a second way to add special characters. If you are comfortable writing in HTML, you can easily a language accent in WordPress.

Add an HTML block in Gutenberg. With HTML, you can add a lot of symbols into your content. Here is a helpful chart that you can use as a reference.

For example, a paragraph in this block would look like this:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]<p>Today the Nestlé company is going green.</p>[/ht_message]

This will add the “é” character.

Classic Method

If you have chosen to disable Gutenberg, you will be using the Classic editor. Unlike Gutenberg, it is very easy to find special characters. The classic editor is actually two editors in one. It contains both the visual and the text editor.

Let’s start with the visual editor. If you looked at the Gutenberg method listed above, you will recognize that the classic block is actually just the visual editor in a block form. Thus, it is exactly the same method, but much more obvious.

Inside the classic editor, click on the Special Character tool.

Just like Gutenberg, simply click on the special character you want to use and it will be inserted into your page or post.

Alternatively, you can use the Text editor. The text editor allows you to type in HTML. This will allow you to type the HTML of the special characters using this chart.

Congratulations. You have successfully added language accents to your posts and pages in WordPress.

Only Use Them When Necessary

The entire point of special characters is to improve the quality of your writing. Thus, it is important to only use special characters when necessary. Overusing them will quickly diminish their impact and in many cases be unnecessary.

However, when they are used correctly, they are instantly recognizable.

Which special characters do you use the most? Do you think there should be a special character shortcut in a Gutenberg paragraph block?

The post How to Use Language Accents in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Now, WordPress does allow you to install and setup WordPress in other languages. For instance, if you are building a multilingual website and want it to be in Spanish, you would simply assign that language to the install and you are good to go.

But what if you want site visitors to be able to translate your WordPress website into the language of their choice? Luckily, there is a great plugin option to achieve WordPress website translation.

Let’s take a look at how to quickly and easily give users the ability to translate a WordPress website.

Why Translate a WordPress Website?

There are a number of reasons you may want to translate a WordPress website. Let’s just jump to the most important reason. You are a business owner and your audience doesn’t always share the same linguistics.

This is reason enough for WordPress website translation to be made available. Opening up your website to a broader audience can only help to boost sales and overall popularity of your brand.

There are a lot of great WordPress translation plugin options available. However, let’s take a look at Gtranslate and how to use it.

The GTranslate Plugin

Today we are going to translate a WordPress website by installing the Translate WordPress with GTranslate plugin. The GTranslate plugin uses the Google Translate automatic service and harnesses the power of that to make any WordPress site multilingual.

The plugin allows your website to be translated into 103 different languages, which covers around 99% of all Internet users. There is also a paid version with SEO options and other add-ons, but today we are going to go over the setup of the free version of the plugin.

The GTranslate plugin is used by over half a million websites around the world and is the best free plugin available for WordPress website translation. The plugin offers a ton of available options and will enable you to produce a website that is easy to understand by many.

Translate a WordPress Website

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Translate WordPress with GTranslate plugin.

Once the plugin has been installed and activated, click on Settings > GTranslate and you will be taken to the main setting’s page for the plugin.

Here you will find an assortment of useful setup options for the GTranslate plugin. These will include a list of options for layout, languages, plugin code and a shortcode.

Let’s take a look at some options.

The top part of the setting’s page allows you to pick a number of different settings for the widget including:

• Widget Look
• Translate From Language
• Analytics Options
• Browser Options
• Show In Menu Options
• Show Native Language Names

As you play around with the options for the widget, you will be able to see a live preview of what the widget looks like located on the right side of the page.

If you scroll down some, you will see all the flag language checkboxes. Simply check the boxes of the languages you want to enable for translation and they will be automatically added into the widget in the style you have chosen.

Note: You can also drag and drop the languages to reorder them the way you want. Otherwise, they will be displayed alphabetically by default.

Directly below the flag checkbox area, you will see a couple of options for widget code and the GTranslate shortcode option. It should be noted that the use of the widget code is for more advanced users only.

Instead, use the GTranslate shortcode in post or pages to put it where you want. Otherwise, you have the actual widget option available and also the option of showing the translation menu within one of your navigation menus.

GTranslate also has a very unique option not available in most plugins. They have a built-in live messaging system that you can use to get help or ask questions when needed.

Place the GTranslate Plugin On Your Site

To place the GTranslate widget in any area on your WordPress website click on Appearance > Widgets and that will take you to the widgets page in the WordPress admin dashboard.

Drag and drop the GTranslate widget into any sidebar area that you want to display it on your website.

Now go to the front end live version of your site to see the GTranslate widget in action.

As stated above, you also have the option to show it in a navigation menu or to show a floating version of the widget in different locations on screen.

Finally, you can also show the WordPress website translation plugin in any post or page by using the “[gtranslate]” shortcode.

Paid Version of GTranslate Plugin

If you are interested in some extra options, including a more SEO friendly version of this plugin, there is a paid tool. Some of the paid version advantages include:

• Search engine indexing
• Search engine friendly (SEF) URLs
• Human level neural translations
• Edit translations manually
• Metadata translation (keywords, page description, etc…)
• URL/slug translation
• Language hosting (custom domain like example.fr, example.es)
• Seamless updates
• Increased international traffic and AdSense revenue
• Works in China
• Priority Live Chat support

You can access the paid version directly from within the free installed version of GTranslate.

I hope this article has shown you how easy it is to translate a WordPress website. Do this to gain visitors and to allow people who are multilingual to enjoy your site.

Have you tried the GTranslate plugin before? Do you use another plugin to translate your WordPress website?

The post How to Translate a WordPress Website appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Actually, this isn’t all that difficult to accomplish. In fact, a simple plugin can make changing languages in the admin screen quick and simple.

This is a bit different than using something like Google Translate to convert the frontend of the website. While that benefits visitors, I’m looking more into the admin screen of WordPress.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to set English for admins in WordPress for multilingual websites.

Method 1: Using Simple Admin Language Change

First, let’s take a look at the Simple Admin Language Change plugin. It’s a very easy tool that simply offers a way to switch languages in the backend of your website.

Install and activate, “Simple Admin Language Change.”

Go to “Settings” from the left admin panel in WordPress.

Scroll to the bottom of the settings screen. Using the drop-down, select the “Admin Language” of the website.

Click, “Save Changes” at the bottom to keep the admin language change.

This will set the WordPress user language for admins as English, or whichever you prefer.

NOTE: According to the developer, this plugin conflicts with the SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle tool. This is an expansion of the Page Builder from SiteOrigin. The issue is that it prevents javascript popups on the Widgets page.

However, you may still get the plugin to work if you do not use those features.

Method 2: Using Admin Language Per User

The next plugin I want to show you is Admin Language Per User. This one is useful in a multi-user dynamic when those who log in speak different languages. For instance, you can set yours to English while an author can select a different language.

If people from around the globe contribute to your website, this WordPress language plugin can save on time and frustration.

Install and activate, “Admin Language Per User.”

The plugin adds a new feature to the profile of every user in WordPress. This means you can set the admin language per user instead of the entire backend.

You have a couple of ways to change the language. You can go into each account yourself and make the changes, or users can do so in their own profile.

For this example, I’m going to change the settings of a user on my test site.

Go to the “Users” tool in WordPress.

Click into any account you have on the site.

Scroll down until you come across the “Site Language” portion of the profile.

Use the drop-down list to change the language of the user. As you can see, I only have English as an option. However, if you’re running a multilingual site, you should see your installed languages available.

Click the “Update Profile” button on the bottom.

One of the reasons I like this particular plugin above the other is that every user can set his or her preference. And if you have a lot of people helping you build a magnificent multilingual site, it streamlines everyone’s experience.

Make it Easier on Yourself and Others

Setting English for admins in WordPress keeps the content focused while making the backend easier to manage. Whether you target marketing to one foreign country or several, it helps to keep site maintenance easier for you to understand.

What languages do you have associated with your website? What’s your favorite language plugin for WordPress?

The post How to Set English for Admins on a Multilingual Site in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

If you do want better translation accuracy for things like memberships, contracts, and service offers, you should really consider hiring a translator and using a multilingual plugin.

Using a rough translation like Google Translate is not ideal, especially for monetary transactions. Today, I will demonstrate how to add Google Translate to your WordPress website using the Google Language Translator plugin.

Why Set Up Google Translate in WordPress

Setting up Google Translate is very beneficial when your website is being accessed in other areas of the world. This can help increase the web traffic of your pages by making them accessible in multiple countries.

For example, it’s very common to set up a website that is only in English and that is not a bad thing. English is normally considered as a second language in many countries around the world and this is especially true for countries like India and China.

These two countries, in particular, have some of the largest populations in the world. And it should be a no-brainer to try and get your website working wherever there are people. Google Translate can help fill the void when someone does not understand a particular word or sentence structure. Many websites use Google Translate and so should you.

Today, I will demonstrate how to add Google Translate to your WordPress website using a Google language translator plugin. This plugin is very popular with over 100,000 active installs and is quite easy to use.

The process is very simple and just involves you selecting which language your website is in and which language you want it to be translated into. You can then place the translate option anywhere using a widget.

Let’s take a look at the plugin real quick and see what it has to offer.

Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator

Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator is a plugin that can help you set up Google Translate in WordPress. Simple as that. The plugin is part of the GTranslate family, which is a leading website translation services provider since 2008. It powers more than 500.000 multilingual websites worldwide.

The plugin is powerful and lightweight, so it won’t slow your website down. It is pretty straightforward and comes with a ton of translation features. These include:

• Free Google Automatic Machine Translation
• Suggest Better Translation Option
• Hide Google Top Frame
• Translates Site on the Fly
• Post and Page Translation
• Category and Tag Translation
• Menu and Widget Translation
• Themes and Plugin Translation
• Right to Left Language Support
• Floating Language Selector
• Language Bar with Flags
• WooCommerce Translation

As you can see, everything you need for site translation is right here built in this easy to install and use plugin. Let’s get it going together.

How to Set Up Google Translate in WordPress

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

Start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Google Language Translator in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Google Language Translator plugin and click the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Access the Settings Page for the Plugin

On the left-hand admin panel click on Settings and select the Google Language Translator option. This will pull up the main settings page.

Step 3: Configure the Plugin Settings

The first thing you need to check is the box to activate the plugin, but it should be active by default. You must also select the current language of your website. The plugin should have it selected, but just in case make sure you have the correct one. In my case, it is in English.

Scroll down to the Layout Settings section. You have two main options to choose from. The first is to have it be translated from the original language, English, into any language or you can choose to specify the language.

By default, it will translate to all languages, but you can also choose specific languages you want it to be translated into as well. You should also select to show the flags for every language you choose.

Scroll down to the Floating Widget Settings section. Check the box to allow it to translate.

Click on the “Save Changes” button once you have changed all of the appropriate settings.

Step 4: Go to the Widgets Page

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Appearance and select the Widgets option. The widgets section of WordPress will allow you to customize your website’s sidebars and many other parts. This can give your website a unique look from other websites using the same theme.

Step 5: Add the Google Translate Plugin to a Widget Area

Find the Google Language Translator widget. Drag it where you would like to place it. Click on the “Save” button to add the widget to your website.

Congratulations, you can now view the translate button on your website. A visitor just needs to click on it and pick the flag for their language and the page will be translated.

Keep in mind the translation will not be perfect, but unless you are a native speaker, you will need to hire a translator if you want that kind of accuracy.

Share Your Website With the World

Most people know that “www” stands for World Wide Web and not everyone speaks the same language. In fact, the world has thousands of languages and it is important to be accessible to as many people as possible.

For example, the United States has a population of approximately 328.2 million people, while the world has a population of approximately 7.6 billion, and growing by the year.

It doesn’t take a mathematician to realize a website will do better if the entire world can use it and this requires people to be able to read what is on it. Of course, you may not have a way to accept payments from various places around the world so the decision is up to you, but the bigger the audience, the larger your web traffic will be.

Conclusion

it isn’t difficult to set up Google Translate if you have a solid plugin and an understanding of where to start. The steps above should allow you to easily set up the plugin. From there, you give your site users the ability to translate your website into multiple languages if needed.

Remember, Google Translate will not be perfect. These plugins can’t detect different dialects or different versions of a language. However, it will translate very well for someone looking at it. Don’t be afraid to use it, as it gives your site functionality that many around the world will be able to enjoy when visiting.

Did you choose all languages or a specific language to translate your website into? If you picked a specific language, why did you not pick all languages?

The post How to Set Up Google Translate in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Doing so can help you create fully translated versions of your content so that users around the world can enjoy it. For some businesses, it may be necessary to offer a multilingual environment.

For example, consider a travel agency. Users from around the world may be booking trips through your business, so you need to make sure they understand what the trip covers, costs, dates, and so on. A multilingual plugin for WordPress can help.

Today, I will demonstrate two plugins that can give your WordPress site multilingual functionality.

Method 1: Google Language Translator

The fastest way to add multilingual support for your WordPress website is to use the Google Language Translator plugin. This is a quick and easy plugin that incorporates Google’s translation matrix into your website.

You can set it to display a country’s flag and when clicked, the page will be translated in that language. It supports over 100 languages, but you can limit it to only display a few if you want.

Luckily, it is easy to use and should only take a few minutes to set up.

Step 1: Install Google Language Translator

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Google Language Translator in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Find the Google Language Translator plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Choose Languages

The plugin is rather simple to use and just requires you to select what language option you want to give users access to. While you may think adding all of them is the best option, that can make it difficult for some users to find their own.

Thus, it is recommended to add the ones that are most relevant to your user base. For example, in the United States, it is normal for many sites to have English and Spanish, while in Canada, it is normal to have English and French.

To do this, click on Settings and select the Google Language Translator option.

The plugin should be active by default, but make sure the checkbox is checked.

Below this, you can set the default language of your site, which should automatically be selected based on your choices within WordPress. Below this, you will find a full list of every language the plugin supports.

Simply check the box to enable that translation option on your site. In my case, I am just going to select Spanish.

The next section is exclusive to the premium version of the plugin. This will allow you to index translated pages of your site on Google. It is worth doing this if you have a sizable audience for that language.

The following two sections give you customization options over the appearance of the translated text, such as size, color, and so on. Simply pick the best options for your site.

On the right-hand side, there is a small Flag Settings box. This allows you to customize the appearance of the flags. These act as translation buttons that the user clicks, so make sure they are sized appropriately.

There is also a section for adding your own custom CSS if you wish. Once you are done, scroll to the bottom and click on the “Save Changes” button.

Step 3: Add The Google Language Translator Widget

While you have two ways to use the plugin, shortcodes and a widget, the best option is the widget. This will make sure the option is available on all of your site’s content.

Luckily, there is not much to adding it in WordPress. Click on Appearance and select the Widgets option.

Now, locate the widget section you want to add the Translator widget to, click on the “+” button, and search for the Google Language Translator widget. The only option you will need to configure is the title.

And that’s it, save the changes and users will be able to select the language they wish to use.

Method 2: Using Polylang

While the Google Language Translator is a great plugin, there is much to be desired when it comes to creating actual pages. Another great option to consider is using Polylang. It is one of the most popular multilingual plugins for WordPress.

In fact, it is so popular it has many integration options for other popular plugins. For example, it integrates with WooCommerce to help you create product pages in other languages.

Step 1: Install Polylang

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Polylang in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Polylang plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Run the Setup Wizard

The easiest way to set this plugin up is to use the setup plugin. After installing the plugin, go to the WordPress Dashboard. You will see a welcome message for Polylang. Inside of it, you should see a “Run the Setup Wizard” button. Click it.

The first thing you will do is select what languages you want to add. You should add your current language and the languages you wish to add to your site. So, in my case, I chose English and Espanol.

Use the drop-down menu to select the language you want and click on the “Continue” button after making your selection.

Next, you will be asked if you want Polylang to translate text associated with your media content. For example, it can translate the alternative text into the selected languages. Flip the switch if you want this feature enabled.

Continue once you have made your choice.

Next, you will choose the language for content that does not have a language set. This is why I told you to choose the languages your site is currently in. In my case, I want all content to be assigned in English.

The next section concerns your homepage. It will be set to English (assuming you selected that in the previous section), but it will also create other translation pages. You can’t change anything here so just continue on to complete the wizard.

And with that, you can now use the plugin.

Step 3: Add Translated Content

With the Setup wizard complete, you can now begin adding translated content for your posts and pages. One thing that is very important to understand is that this plugin will not translate your content.

Instead, it will translate everything in WordPress and any media (if you enable that option). The point of Polylang is to help you create pages that are registered as specific languages. And when a user visits that page, it will detect their language and display the correct one.

As such, you will either need a separate tool to perform the translation, or you can do so manually if you have the knowledge.

Go to the post or page you wish to create a different language version of. Locate the Language option on the right-hand settings and click on the “+” by Translations.

This will open up a new post that is blank. Simply copy and paste the text from the original post into this one, including the title. Once you do, you need to either run it through a translation tool or translate it yourself.

Once you have finished translating the content, save the changes. You now have a translated version of that post or page.

Other Plugins for Languages in WordPress

Of course, these are only two examples of plugins that can translate WordPress content. Here are a few more that can help.

TranslatePress

TranslatePress is another great option for websites looking to support multiple languages. It allows you to easily translate all of the content on the frontend of WordPress with the simple click of a button.

That said, it does have to be done on a page-by-page basis, so it can take a bit of time for larger sites. Not only does it translate the text, but it even translates your shortcodes.

To give users the ability to choose the language, you’ll just need to add a shortcode to the desired location, or you can even create a floating button. It’s a great option to consider if you are looking to translate pages fast.

Loco Translate

Loco Translate is one of the most popular translation plugins in WordPress with over one million active installs. It allows you to easily translate themes into the language you desire.

It comes with a translation editor that you can use to translate the content easily. You can also download the changes you make so you can use them on other sites with the same tool, which makes it a great choice for many developers.

This plugin only translates the theme, not the content itself. As such, you may want to use a different translation plugin alongside this.

WP Multilang

Another excellent choice is the WP Multilang. It works somewhat similar to Polylang where you can assign multiple languages to a single post or page. And it has a rather long list of plugins it is compatible with.

Some of the highlights include WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, BuddyPress, and more. It has also been recently updated to support block-based themes, which allows you to handle translations from the full-site editor.

It is a great option, especially since it is free to use, so be sure to give it a try today.

Translate Your Website Today

As you can see, there are several tools you can use to help create a multilingual environment for your website. The tools above are two different ways you can achieve this and finding the right fit for your site is extremely important.

Just be sure that whichever route you choose to go, the translations are accurate. Inaccurate translations can cause problems for readers, especially for online stores if a deal is mistranslated. It could even create false advertisement claims.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful in creating a multilingual WordPress site.

Which plugin do you prefer to use? How many languages does your website support?

The post How to Quickly Build a WordPress Multilingual Website appeared first on GreenGeeks.