How do I make a multilingual site in Website Builder?

In this guide, we show how you can make your Website Builder site multilingual. As an example, we are adding a Dutch version to an English site.

After following this guide, the overall structure of your website is in place, and you can start adding the translations.

Step 1 - Make all pages subpages of your main home page

Step 2 - Rename your home page

Step 3 - Duplicate pages for the additional language

Step 4 - Add links to the home page of each language

Step 5 - Change the start level for your menu

Step 6 - Add a new menu to the page as language selector

Step 7 - Add the translated text and publish your site

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Step 1 - Make all pages subpages of your main home page

Start by turning all pages into subpages of your main home page, see the screenshot for how it should look. Check our guide if you need more information on how to do this: How do I add a subpage?

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Step 2 - Rename your home page

Next, you need to rename your home page to the language it represents. What you enter here, will become the text your visitors click to change to this language. In this example, we've used "EN" to indicate English, but you can call it whatever you want.

1. Open the pages menu.
2. Right-click on your home page and select Settings.
3. Change the page name in the menu to "EN" or another language.
4. Change the folder name to "en" as well, in lower case.
5. Click Save.

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Step 3 - Duplicate pages for the additional language

Make a duplicate of each page for the additional language. A duplicate page is a copy of the original page, making it easy to add the translated text.

1. Open the pages menu.
2. Right-click on the first page and click Duplicate page.
3. Enter a name for the page - the translated version of the original page - and click OK.
4. Repeat this until you have a duplicate of each page.
5. Turn the pages into subpages of the home page of the new language, see the screenshot for how it should look.

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Step 4 - Add links to the home page of each language

To make the home page visible in the menu with the other pages you need to create a link to each home page in the menu.

1. Open the pages menu.
2. Click the button to add a link to the menu, it's blue with a chain.
3. Click Link in the menu to the left.
4. Click the button Link to file or page in the top-right corner.
5. Select the (front) page you want to link to and click Save.
6. Type the name for your home page that should be visible in the menu under Link title.
7. Click Add to save your settings.
8. Make the link a "subpage" of the home page that you are linking to, see the screenshot.
9. Repeat this for each language.

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Step 5 - Change the start level for your menu

The next step is to fix the menu. Due to the changes you just made, your menu only shows the language pages.

1. Select the menu on your page.
2. Click Edit menu.
3. In the settings that appear, change the start level to Pages on second level.

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Step 6 - Add a new menu as language selector

Finally, you should add a new menu to your website template that allows your visitors to change the language.

1. Click Menu in the menu to the left.
2. Click Edit styles.
3. Click New menu style (duplicate).
4. Adjust the settings of the new menu style to your liking.
5. Click Done to save your settings.
6. Drag a menu in your page while in Edit template mode. This way the menu will be visible on all pages using this template.
7. Click Edit menu.
8. Change the menu type to Horizontal single level.
9. Click Style and select the new menu style you just created as the Main menu styling.
10. Adjust the size and placement of the menu to your liking and click Save.

Tip: You can attach your menu to the strip for it to stay visible when scrolling. Check this guide to learn more: How do I make the menu always visible on top?

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Step 7 - Add the translated text and publish your site

The structure of your site is now done. So you can now start adding the translated text and other content. Click Preview if you want to see how your site will look.

Once you have added the translated content, you can publish your site to make it visible online.

Note: The menu links to your home pages that you added, don't work in preview mode. They will work once you site has been published.

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Related articles:

Using the Mobile view editor

How do I link to a section on a page?