This article explains how to create the translation of a page, link it to the original, and translate your header, your templates and the terms of your categories. You will learn to set the language of your lists and to have your AI prepare a first draft.
Before you start
- Your site must have at least two languages. Add a language explains how to add one.
- A translation is a content item in its own right. It is linked to the original and has its own address, its own SEO and its own publication dates.
- Lovely Render does not translate your texts for you. You translate them yourself, or an AI connected to your site prepares a first draft that you review.
Create a translation from the editor
- Open the page to translate in the editor.
- In the right-hand panel, Page tab, click the language on the Language line. The Language tab, followed by the language code of the page, opens.
- Under Translations, on the line of the language you want, click the “+” button (Create and link). The translation opens in another browser tab. It is linked to the original and filed in the right language. It takes over the title and blocks of the original.
- Translate the title and the texts.
- Translate the address of the page.
- In the SEO tab, translate the title and the description of the page for search engines.
- Publish the translation.
Your changes in the Language tab are saved right away, without the Save button: the language, a link or a removal. The tab of the other version, open elsewhere, updates.
On a single-language site, neither the Language line nor the tab is displayed.
Create a translation from the content list
On a multilingual site, the list of pages and the list of each content type have a Locales column right after the title. It carries one badge per other language.
| Badge | Effect |
|---|---|
A code, for example EN | The translation exists. A click opens it in the editor. |
A “+” followed by a code, for example + EN | The translation does not exist. A click creates it, like Create and link. |
Link an existing translation
If the page exists in the other language, link the two pages. This way you avoid creating a third one.
- In the Language tab of either page, under Translations, click in the Search… field of the language you want.
- Type at least two letters of the other page’s title. The list offers the content of the same type, in that language, that your role lets you edit.
- Click the page you want. Its title appears in place of the field.
To undo the link, click the cross (Remove) next to the title. The two pages stay in place.
Change the language of a page
A page receives a language when it is created:
- a translation created by Create and link, in the Language tab or by a badge of the Locales column, receives the chosen language;
- a page created by an AI receives the language you ask it for;
- a content item of a type that has a template receives the language chosen in the Which language? window, which opens when it is created on a multilingual site (Start from a content template);
- any other page receives the main language of the site, whatever the language of your administration. A composition created from a block and a file dropped into the editor follow the same rule.
To change the language of a page, choose another language in the Language list of the tab. A page with no language shows No language.
Understand the effect of a translation
- Search engines learn that the linked pages are translations of one another. A translation in draft is not announced to them.
- The Language switcher block sends the visitor to the translation of the page they are reading. The Language suggestion block offers it to them.
- A page with no translation stays online in its language, at its address. No empty page or error replaces it.
- Each page announces its language to browsers and screen readers.
Translate your compositions
Your header, your footer, your mobile menu and your consent banner are compositions. Translate each one once. Every page then shows the version in its language. A single set of templates is enough.
- In the administration menu, open Templates > Compositions, then the composition to translate.
- Open the Language tab and check its language.
- Under Translations, click Create and link for the language you want.
- Translate the texts of the composition you created.
- Publish the composition.
As long as a composition has no published translation in a language, the pages in that language show it as you wrote it. In the editor, you see the composition in place. On the site, its translation takes its place. A link to Home page leads to the home page of the page’s language.
Translate a template
A template is translated like a page, from its Language tab and the Create and link button. Keep a template translation for a layout specific to one language. For a text in the header or footer, translate the composition.
- A page shows the translation of its template in its language when that translation is published. Otherwise, it shows the original template.
- In Templates > Templates, the Language column gives the language of each template, as soon as the site has two languages.
- On your site, the administration bar offers Edit template to open the template of the page being displayed.
- The translation of a protected template, such as the home page or the 404 page, is protected.
Translate a term or a content type
A term is a content item and is translated like a page, from its Language tab. The name of a content type or of a category and the address segment of its content are translated in its form. Translate your labels and messages details this.
Set the language of a content list
A content list shows the content in the language of the page being read. The Content language setting of the Query panel changes this choice. It appears as soon as the site has two languages.
| Choices | Content listed |
|---|---|
| The language of the page being read | The content in the language of the visited page. The default choice. |
| Every language | All content, all languages together. |
| A named language | The content in that language, whatever the page. |
For a section written in a single language to stay visible on the pages of the other languages, set its list to that language.
Prepare a first draft with your AI
An AI connected to your site, such as Claude or ChatGPT, can create the translation of a page and rewrite its text in the other language. It creates the linked translation, like Create and link, then translates the copied content. It works on Staging with the rights you gave it. On a multilingual site, a page it creates receives the language you ask it for: with no language named, the creation is refused.
- Connect your AI by following Connect your AI.
- Ask it to translate a page into a language of your site, for example “Translate the Pricing page into English.”
- Review the translation in the editor, correct it, then publish it.