Why Drupal 8 is the best choice for multilingual websites

There is a very easy way to multiply your market reach — just make your website multilingual. For a multilingual website, the choice of the platform can play the key role. This is because some CMSs are particularly suited for this mission. And there is one that is above all competition — the eight version of Drupal. Unsurpassed multilingual capacities are among Drupal 8’s main benefits, which encourage many site owners to migrate to Drupal 8. Let’s see what exactly makes Drupal 8 the best choice for multilingual websites.

Why choose Drupal 8 for a multilingual website

Thanks to Drupal 8 Multilingual Initiative and the amazing community’s work, Drupal 8 is a true polyglot that “knows” a hundred languages. Four powerful built-in modules — Language, Content Translation, Configuration Translation, and Interface Translation — take care of every step of the multilingual setup. But it’s just the beginning. More details are coming right now. 

• Multilingual features both for existing and new sites

It does not matter if you already have a website or are just thinking to get one. Drupal 8 allows for building multilingual sites from scratch, as well as for adding new languages to existing sites. Languages can seamlessly appear on your website at any moment you wish.

• Any language can be your website’s base one

During Drupal installation, you can select any language from the list as the base one, not just English. The ready interface translations will arrive to you automatically, so it will be easy to work with the website from the start and later on. You are also free to change your site’s default language at any moment.

• A hundred languages to add

The list of available languages for your Drupal website is very impressive — it lets you cover your audience in the farthest corners of the world. However, if your desired language is not on the list, it can still be added via the special language code.

• Ready website interface translations

Automatically uploaded interface translations are a very bonus from the Drupal community! Next to each language you install, you see the percentage of ready translations. 

For many languages, this index is close to 100%, so you may be in special luck. In any case, your editors can click on that index and translate the rest of the elements manually. They can also edit the ready translations if they wish. For this, there is a convenient interface.

• RTL (right-to-left) language support

Drupal 8 also supports languages with right-to-left text direction. Among those available by default, are Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Farsi, Urdu, and more.

• Fine-grained translation options

Your Drupal 8 website can be multilingual from A to Z — not only in its interface but also in configuration and content. This includes content types and their particular fields, menus, blocks, taxonomy, users, contact forms, comments, or anything else. You can configure with a very high granularity which website elements should be translatable and which ones shouldn’t.

It is also possible to set the default language for each site element, hide or show language selectors on the editor pages, and much more.

• Handy translation interfaces for editors

In the everyday content workflows, editors will easily be able to add translations to content, once the appropriate content types are configured as translatable. 

• Language selection

You can offer your users to select languages with handy language switches. In addition to that, Drupal 8 also lets you detect their assumed preferred language — according to user’s IP address, browser settings, URL, session, and more. This can be set up in the language detection and selection tab.

Final thoughts

This is just a wrap-up of amazing Drupal 8 multilingual opportunities. Your website can work and look exactly as you wish.

So if you are interested in:

• a perfect multilingual setup
• an upgrade to Drupal 8
• or a new D8 website built for you from scratch

you are always welcome to contact our Drupal experts. We will help you go awesomely multilingual!