translating a website: two languages, one site, who writes them

web · 2026-09-07 · 3 min

translate the site if people who would pay you read another language. not because a plugin makes it a one-click decision. the plugin is the easy part; the words are the work.

a translated site is a second site with the same structure and different text. if nobody is going to write that text properly, an automatic translation button makes the site look bigger and less trustworthy at the same time.

one site, two addresses

put the second language in a subdirectory: yoursite.com/en/. not on a separate domain, not only in a cookie. every page needs its own url that can be linked, indexed and shared, otherwise the english version exists only for people who already found the italian one.

add hreflang tags so each version points at the other, and a language switcher in the header that keeps the visitor on the same page instead of sending them back to the home. do not redirect by ip. a visitor on holiday, a search engine crawler and an italian customer who prefers english all get the wrong page.

who writes the second version

a native speaker who knows your trade. not a literal translation: "preventivo" is not always "quote" in the same sentence, and "azienda agricola" is not "farm" if the site sells wine. give the translator the source text plus a note on who reads it and what you want them to do.

expect to pay per word, and expect a small site to take a few days. it is a few hours of work, and the difference is audible in the first line.

what not to translate blindly

prices and currency, legal pages, addresses and opening hours need a decision, not a translation. a privacy policy translated by a tool is a privacy policy nobody can rely on.

seo changes too. the words people search in german are not the italian words with different letters, and the page that answers "idraulico parma" is not the page that answers "klempner stuttgart". if you keep a blog, translate the three posts that bring customers, not all forty.

decide before you translate

translation is the last step of a decision, not the first. before a single word goes to a translator, three questions have answers, and two of them are about people rather than language.

the market. is there a country or a city where people already write to you, or where you have decided to look for clients? "everyone speaks english" is not a market, it is a reason to do nothing. if the answer is a real place, the second language has a name and a set of search words.

who answers. if nobody in the studio can reply to an email in that language within a day, a translated site sells a service you cannot deliver. the translation is a one-off cost; the inbox is the recurring one, and it decides whether the second version survives.

what stays current. prices, availability, dates, opening hours. a second version doubles every future edit, and the edit is where half-translated sites die.

that is the real cost of a site translated halfway: not the missing page, but the hreflang pair telling google that both versions are alternatives while one of them has not been touched since march. the visitor lands on stale prices in a language nobody is watching.

so the rule is small. translate only if there is a market, a person who answers, and a habit of updating both. if one of the three is missing, one language done well beats two done halfway, and a single english page for the enquiries you already receive is enough.

faq

can i use the automatic google translate widget?

you can, and it is better than nothing for a page someone lands on by accident. as the main solution it reads like a machine talking, and the visitor who needs you in that language will notice in two sentences.

does translating help with google?

it gives you pages that can be found in that language, which is the point. it does not transfer ranking from one language to another, and a thin translation of a thin page stays thin.

should i translate every page?

start with home, services and contact. those are the pages where a customer decides. add the rest when the first three bring messages in the second language.

should my website be in one language or more?

add a second language only if there is a market that asks for it, someone who can answer emails in that language, and a habit of updating both versions. otherwise one language done well is better than two done halfway, because a stalled translation is visible to every visitor who switches.