Published 27.03.2021 by Schmitt Trading Ltd
As described in my blog post Why I picked WordPress.com, I first created websites with different business ideas and different languages with multiple WordPress accounts.
After that, I tried to Create an Internet Archive with a self-hosted WordPress.org website on my own server: https://en.schmitt-trading.com.
Finally, I reconsidered staying with WordPress.com and learning how to build a bilingual or multilingual WordPress site.
In the following, I describe step by step how you can easily add several languages to your one and only WordPress website.
Create a New Page with WordPress
To create a new page, click My Site, Pages:
Click Add New.
Pick a pre-defined layout or start with a blank page:
Add a title and start writing:
When you enter your title (e.g. Business Ideas), WordPress automatically fills the permanent link URL slug:
Scroll down to Page Attributes and select the Parent Page from the list:
Publish your page.
Customize your WordPress Site
Go back to My Site.
Scroll down the left menu bar and click Appearance, Customize:
Click the Edit icon in the Primary Menu:
The Primary Menu opens:
Scroll down and click Add Items:
Open the folder pages and click the desired page to be nested:
Grab the newly added page with the Select icon and move it to the desired place in your menu:
When you are done, click Save Changes:
This website consists of (permanent) pages and various blog posts.
The pages are accessible via the horizontal menu at the top of the site (“Primary Menu”).
The blog posts are accessible via the menu Blog.
When I started this website from scratch, I accepted the automatically proposed theme “Hever”.
This theme only included 4 items in the Primary Menu.
Create the Main Language Page
I decided to make English my main language.
Then I renamed the menu item “Home” to “English”.
Now, my starting page is English.
Then I renamed the page slug into en.
All pages that are nested below the English page do now use the extension “en” for English:
https://schmitt-trading.com/en
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/business-ideas
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/business-ideas/photovoltaic-systems
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/business-ideas/photovoltaic-systems/rooftop
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/business-ideas/photovoltaic-systems/solar-park
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/financials
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/financials/assets
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/financials/assets/electricity-generation
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/financials/assets/electricity-generation/home-solar-power
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/solar-energy
https://schmitt-trading.com/en/solar-energy/photovoltaics
Create a Second Language Page
For the other languages, I just followed the same principle.
Create a new page “Deutsch” for German.
Rename the page slug into de.
All pages that are nested below the Deutsch page do now use the extension “de” for German:
https://schmitt-trading.com/de
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/geschaeftsideen
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/geschaeftsideen/photovoltaikanlage
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/geschaeftsideen/photovoltaikanlage/solarpark
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/finanzen
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/finanzen/sachwerte
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/finanzen/sachwerte/stromerzeugung
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/finanzen/sachwerte/stromerzeugung/haus-solaranlage
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/sonnenenergie
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/sonnenenergie/photovoltaik
https://schmitt-trading.com/de/sonnenenergie/photovoltaik/stromspeicher
How to Create a French WordPress Site
Create a new page “Français” for French.
Rename the page slug into fr.
All pages that are nested below the Français page do now use the extension “fr” for French:
https://schmitt-trading.com/fr
https://schmitt-trading.com/fr/idees-commerciales
How to Create a Spanish WordPress Site
Create a new page “Español” for Spanish.
Rename the page slug into es.
All pages that are nested below the Español page do now use the extension “es” for Spanish:
https://schmitt-trading.com/es