Set up WPML

1. Set Your Site’s Source Language

   The current language of your site, the language your content is written in today. This is your source language. Make sure it’s right before continuing. Changing it later is more involved.

2. Add the Secondary Languages You’ll Translate Into

   The languages you want WPML to translate your content into. Add as many as you need. You can add or remove languages later from WPML > Settings > Languages.

3. Pick a URL Format for Translated Content

   How translated pages are addressed in the browser:

   • Directories. yoursite.com/fr/..., yoursite.com/de/.... The most common choice, and the one most plugins and themes are tested against.
   • Different domains per language. yoursite.fr/..., yoursite.de/.... Useful if you have separate domains for each market.
   • Language as a parameter. yoursite.com/?lang=fr. The least recommended option. Some plugins and themes don’t handle this format well.

4. Pick a Translation Engine

   WPML 5 recommends PTC – WPML’s AI translation. PTC produces translations that need no editing 99.5% of the time, preserves your edits, and learns your terminology automatically.

   The three other engines (DeepL, Google, Microsoft) are still in WPML but are now labelled legacy and marked not recommended for new sites. They remain available for clients who have a specific reason to pick them. For new sites, PTC is the right choice. See the measured comparison against DeepL for the quality gap behind the recommendation.

5. Pick Translate Everything Automatically with PTC, or Translate Some

   The most important choice in the wizard:

   • Translate Everything Automatically with PTC – recommended. WPML translates your whole site for you in the background and keeps translating new and edited content as it appears. You pay once per page in each language; editing a translation later is free, until the content grows beyond what you originally paid for.
   • Translate Some: You Choose What to Translate. You stay in control of every translation. From WPML > Translations, you pick the content you want translated and send it for translation, page by page. Each send is billed per word.

   You can switch between Translate Everything Automatically and Translate Some later – the choice isn’t a one-way door.

6. Review the Cost, Then Click Start to Begin Translating (Translate Everything Automatically Only)

   If you picked Translate Everything Automatically, the wizard walks you through the cost and waits for your explicit go-ahead before any translation runs:

   1. A Calculate Translation Costs screen lists the content WPML will translate (pages, posts, navigation menus) and the price across the languages you picked. Editing translations afterward is free; you only pay again when a page grows with new content. Nothing is billed at this stage – the screen exists so you can sanity-check the scope and the bill before agreeing to it.
   2. A short context-and-setup section asks for a one-line description of your site (so PTC translates in the right tone), an optional setup of human translators, and an optional support-telemetry consent. Still no translation – these are the last choices the wizard needs.
   3. A summary on the final wizard screen confirms what WPML is about to do and offers two buttons: Start Your Site’s Translation and Go back. Translation begins only when you click Start. Go back returns you to earlier steps if any of your choices need to change before translation runs.

After the Wizard – What You Do Next

• If you chose Translate Everything Automatically and clicked Start: WPML is now translating your site in the background. Translation runs in a sensible order – homepage first, then pages reachable from your menus, then pages linked from your homepage, then everything else. Posts and products come later. Watch progress at WPML > Translations. See Translate your site’s content for what to do next.
• If you chose Translate Some: WPML is configured but no translations have started yet. Open WPML > Translations and pick the content you want translated – see Translate your site’s content for the procedure.