Articles on: Website

Add and manage languages

Add a new language

You add a new language to your website by navigating to Design > Pages > Manage pages.

There are two ways of adding a new language to your website. You can either duplicate the entire page structure of an existing language or add a new language and start building up the page structure from scratch.

Option 1: duplicate existing page structure and content

To duplicate an existing language and all its pages and content, click on the three dots to the right of the language and select Duplicate. All the pages and content from your existing language is now duplicated (copied) and added below the original language. On the new language, click Edit settings, rename the new language, and select the appropriate language abbreviation from the dropdown. Remember to also rename the pages that have been copied over with the new language.

Option 2: add a new language

To add a new language without any pages or content attached to it, click Add Language at the bottom of the Manage pages and languages overlay. Enter the language name and choose the matching abbreviation from the dropdown.

Which option is better for me? Option 1 would usually be the better choice if your website comes with more or less the same page structure, design and content in both your primary and secondary language(s). Using option 1, you copy over the entire page structure and layout, meaning you only have to worry about language-versioning the content (text, images, etc.) on your website. Option 2 is likely more ideal if you want to significantly differentiate your secondary language version from your primary one, for example making a brand new design and page layout for the secondary language.

Define your language settings

When adding a new language or duplicating an existing one, you need to define the following language settings.

Language name and code

Write the name of your language and choose the matching code/abbreviation, for example "en" for English. Keep in mind that the language name is what your visitors will see on your website when they select language so it might make sense to write it in the local language (for example "Deutsch" instead of "German").

Select a language region code: Apart from writing in a language name and selecting the language code, you can also select a region code from the list. This information helps search engines return language-specific results and it is also used by screen readers that switch language profiles to provide the correct accent and pronunciation. For example, French is spoken in many different variants, including Belgian French which contains unique vocabulary and phonology. To capture this difference, select fr_BE from the Region dropdown in the Editor to help search engines identify the exact language the website is written in. This helps visitors performing a search in Belgian French find your website easier.

Formats

Date format: set the format in which you want to display dates for the language. "d" represents day, "m" represents month and "Y" represents year.
Weekday format: choose whether you want the weekday format to be displayed in full (Monday) or abbreviated (Mo or Mo.). Toggle Display weekdays in lower case to show lower case letters only, for example monday instead of Monday.
Week starts on: choose which weekday you want your week to start with: Sunday or Monday. Your choice influences which weekday will be displayed first in the Opening hours module for the language.
Use 24-hour system for displaying times: by default, times are set to be displayed in a 24-hour format (14, 15, 16 etc.). Disable this setting to switch to a 12-hour format (2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m., etc.).

SEO

Include language-specific SEO information to ensure that your website is SEO-optimized in all languages used. You have the option to include SEO-specific information such as title, keywords and description. All pages in the language will inherit these settings, if not changed locally for each individual page.

Flags

Instead of only displaying the language name to visitors, it's possible to associate a flag with the language to help them easily identify it. Add a flag by choosing the relevant flag from the list - a flag is activated when a thin black border surrounds it. If you regret including a flag, click on the flag again and it will be deactivated. The flag is displayed in the Language Selector module.

Add a Language Selector module

In order for visitors to be able to select languages on your website, you need to add a Language Selector module in your website header or footer. Read how to do that here.

Updated on: 03/08/2023

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!