So you want a multilingual WordPress site? Cute. 🙄 Let me save you years of pain, grey hairs, and the urge to throw your laptop out the window. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years, and I’ve seen things. Terrible things. Plugin-shaped things.
🎰 The Multilingual Plugin Casino
WordPress doesn’t speak multiple languages out of the box. Shocking, I know. So you need a plugin. And here’s where most people make a catastrophic mistake that’ll haunt them for years.
✅ The Good Ones
- Polylang — Our hero. We run it on a site with 5 languages. Not a single problem. Ever. 👨🍳
- TranslatePress — Visual editor, good for beginners who like clicking things.
- qTranslate-XT — Lightweight option, stores translations in same post.
💀 The Disaster
- WPML — The “industry standard” that destroyed this very website. Not exaggerating. Keep reading. 🔥
“But everyone uses WPML!”
Yeah, and everyone used to think the earth was flat. 🌍
🚨 WPML: The Time It Destroyed Our Site
This isn’t hypothetical. This isn’t “it could happen.” WPML destroyed devenia.com. This website you’re reading right now. 💣
💀 What Happened
- Database indexes: Gone.
- Database tables: Gone. Lots of them.
- Content: Corrupted beyond recognition.
- Years of work: Partially lost forever.
😱 The Recovery
We had to hire a MySQL admin. He worked for DAYS trying to salvage what he could.
He managed to piece together content from the corrupted live database AND a backup. The kicker? Even the backup was full of errors from the WPML disaster.
We lost content. Permanently. Content we’ll never get back. 😤
So when I tell you to skip WPML, I’m not being dramatic. I’m speaking from the experience of watching years of work disappear because of a plugin that’s supposed to be the “industry standard.”
🏆 The Solution: Polylang
After rebuilding from the WPML disaster, we now use Polylang on a client site with 5 languages. It’s been running smoothly ever since. No drama. No surprises. No database destruction.
Why It Actually Works 👍
- Clean architecture: Separate posts per language, but done right. No tangled mess.
- Lightweight: Doesn’t make your server cry.
- Stable updates: Updates that don’t require a MySQL admin afterwards.
- Great compatibility: Plays nice with other plugins. Revolutionary concept! 🚪
The Trade-off 🤷
The free version covers most needs. Pro version adds more features if you need them.
You know what it doesn’t have? The ability to nuke your database indexes and corrupt your tables. I’ll take that trade any day.
🔧 Alternative: Just Run Separate Sites
For big, important sites where failure isn’t an option? Skip the plugins entirely. Run separate WordPress installations per language.
✅ Zero plugin dependency
✅ Each site optimized independently
✅ No single point of failure
✅ Sleep better at night
❌ More maintenance work
❌ Content syncing is manual
❌ Multiple sites to update
Use subdomains (en.example.com) or subdirectories (example.com/en/) and wire them together with hreflang tags. It’s more work, but at least your database won’t spontaneously combust. 🧯
📋 SEO Stuff You Can’t Skip
Whatever approach you choose, don’t mess up the SEO basics:
- Hreflang tags: Non-negotiable. Tell Google which version goes where. 🌐
- Localized keywords: “Best lawyer” doesn’t directly translate. Research each market.
- Cultural adaptation: Don’t just translate, localize. Different cultures, different vibes. 🎭
- Consistent URLs: Pick a structure. Stick with it. Forever.
🎯 TL;DR
Skip WPML. It destroyed this website. Database indexes gone. Tables gone. Content lost forever. A MySQL admin worked for days to salvage what he could. Even the backup was corrupted. 💸
Use Polylang. We run it on a 5-language site. Zero problems. It just works.
Use separate installations for mission-critical stuff where you absolutely cannot afford disasters.
And whatever you do: BACKUPS. Multiple backups. Off-site backups. Backups of your backups. Because when WPML decides to destroy everything, even your backup might be corrupted. Ask me how I know. 😈