TruCMS can show your website in several languages. The Languages screen is where you decide which languages exist, which of them are switched on for visitors, and which one is the default.
Languages. English is the source language. Each other language shows how much of the site’s text has been translated.
Add a language → Translate the interface text → Switch the language on → Translate your content → Visitors choose their language
There are two kinds of text in a multilingual site, and each has its own tool:
| Kind of text | Examples | Where you translate it |
|---|---|---|
| Interface text | Buttons, form labels, validation messages and headings of the admin panel and of the public site (“Add to cart”, “Sign in”, “Book now”). | Translations. |
| Your content | Pages, blog posts, categories, tags, and Booking services, locations and similar items. | The screens where you create them, with a tab or flag per language. See Multilingual Content. |
| Part | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Language name | The flag, the name and the language code (for example es for Spanish). The code is used in addresses: Spanish pages live under /es/…. |
| Translation progress | A bar showing how many interface phrases have been translated. For the source language (English) the screen shows the number of phrases (“2200 source keys”). A language does not need to be at 100% to be used: untranslated phrases appear in English. |
| Status icon | A tick means the language is active (visitors and editors can use it). A dash means it is switched off. |
| Star | Marks the default language (gold star). The default language is shown to visitors who have not chosen another, has no prefix in its addresses, and is the fallback for missing translations. |
| Translate icon | Opens the language’s phrase list so you can translate the text of the interface. |
| Bin | Deletes the language and its translations. |
| Search | Finds a language by name or code. |
| Translations button | Opens the list of source phrases. See Translations. |
| Import / Publish | Move translations between the language files of your site and the editor. See Import and Publish. |
| ADD NEW LANGUAGE | Adds a language from the list of supported languages. |
Right-to-left languages such as Arabic are marked as such, and TruCMS mirrors the layout of the public site for them.
Click the status icon of the language. When a language is switched on:
/es/blog.Switching a language off hides it from visitors and from the forms. Nothing is deleted, so you can switch it on again later. You cannot switch off the default language, or the last active language.
Click the star beside a language to make it the default. Change this only when you set up the site: the default language decides the addresses of your pages, and changing it later moves them.
After changing languages
The list of languages is remembered for speed. TruCMS refreshes it when you switch a language on or off, but if a change does not appear on the public site, clear the cache (see Cache) and reload.
When more than one language is active, visitors need a way to change language. The Echo theme shows it in the footer: switch on Language Switch in the footer bar options of Footer Layouts & Backgrounds. A globe link with the current language appears; clicking it opens a Select Language window listing the active languages. The visitor lands on the same page in the chosen language.
The Select Language window opened from the footer link.
Each language has its own address, so search engines can index each version. Fill in the meta title and description in every language on your pages and posts, and keep the translated slug short.
| Symptom | What to do |
|---|---|
| The new language does not appear on the site | Make sure it is switched on (tick icon), the footer Language Switch is enabled, and clear the cache. |
| Part of the page stays in English | Either the interface phrase is not translated yet (open its phrase list) or the page content has no translation in that language (add it in the Pages or Posts screen). See Multilingual Content. |
| I cannot switch off a language | It is the default language, or the only active language. Make another language the default first. |
| My translation edits are not visible | Interface text edited in the Translations editor goes live after you Publish. See Translations. |
Translations · Multilingual Content · Footer Layouts & Backgrounds · Pages