With a world that is becoming more technologically advanced, it is important that your web presence appeals to the languages within your demographic. No country likes being forced into learning another language to obtain a product or service. And they shouldn’t have too. And thanks to Drupal they don’t need to.

Drupal builds basic multi-lingual support into core. First, the API provides a string translation wrapper. This means that any text that is exported from code is fully translatable. Drupal also improved the translations on the front-end. Every piece of text in the administration pages is also translatable, allowing administrators and translators to see the back-end of the site in their own language. The best part is new languages can be added to Drupal through a simple select list. Once enabled, the locale module provides a "Languages Administration" page offering a selection of roughly 50 different languages, some of which come with Drupal’s core already translated. The interface also displays what percentage of the site has already been translated into each language so that the marketing team can plan specific language launches.

One of ClikFocus’s primary clients is a multi-lingual site with 6 languages and offices in each of the corresponding countries. They were excited to be able to see both the front and back-end interface in the native languages of the countries each office is located in. After running the site for about a year, the client wanted an upgrade. Several new offices had opened up and some new languages were needed. The languages were added almost instantly using the locale module. A few hours of theme upgrades to support the new languages and the site was available for 9 translations.

Multi-lingual sites open up new horizons for a company. Markets that may appear closed due to cultural or demographical differences will begin to open. Countries will also be proud to use your products and services knowing that, by the use of their language on your site, their culture is important to your company. ClikFocus knows the importance of languages for entering new markets and has the expertise to make Drupal’s multi-lingual interface work for you.