If you’ve ever been involved in a multi-language site before you will know what a logistical nightmare it becomes very quickly. If you haven’t, then let me explain.
First off I’m not talking about a basic website; a simple brochure site about a bricks and mortar business, a forum or an e-commerce site.
For this I would recommend simply using a templating system that has a multi-language module. Your content is only text, and probably doesn’t change very often. Simply use a native-speaker translator to get your message across and re-employ someone if you want to publish something new.
What I’m referring to is a more complex website business that is custom-built from the ground up. Think ebay, PayPal or Facebook – why not aim high!
You decide to target multiple languages from the start, or you have an existing system that is single language. Your system architect modifies the code to pull strings from a localisation file. You get all the strings translated. Job done.
This is where things get sticky. Every time a new part of the site is added; maybe a new feature or service – the entire localisation file needs translating into all your target languages. This rapidly bring development speed to a snails pace.
I’ve been there before and it’s painful. So a radically new approach is needed to keep your businesses innovation level up and deployment speed at maximum.
My methodology is to separate out all languages into different sites, and the functionality available to them. Keep a single core database of central data – for example the Users table with a LANG field.
Develop class libraries that are language neutral and independent for the business layer logic, and finally utilise the amazing logic and design separation principles of modern MVC (Model-View-Control) architecture.
This way you can innovate rapidly on one language site – maybe test our that new killer feature – do people use it? does it need tweaking based on user feedback? was it a waste of time and need killing off?
All this can be done as rapidly as you’d expect from a single language site. Once you’re happy to commit the budget to the translators and coders – roll-out the views to the other languages.
If you’d like to discuss your multi-language site’s architecture with me please get in touch.