Best Multilingual Plugin to use with Deepl Pro Plugin

I am in the process of working on a qTranslate or Polylang compatibility on the request of a client. Do you have a preference ? (the client has none at the moment)

I will NOT work to make it compatible with WPML (which is a sad excuse for a WordPress plugin)

I agree that WPML is a car crash, and the company behind it are nasty.

If you think about the type of developers who are likely to use your plugin, however, most will be working for clients and, sadly, due to marketing, most of those clients will be using WPML. Even if other multilingual plugins are better, it is usually difficult to persuade a client to switch from something they are already familiar with.

If the Pro version of this plugin will become an important part of your business, I suppose it will be necessary to support as many multilingual plugins as possible.

I believe that some of those plugins will eventually introduce their own DeepL API functionality, eliminating the need for your plugin, but that is unlikely in the case of WPML. It appears that they will not support DeepL because they do not want to undercut the money they make by selling their own translation services. That is their Achilles heel, and your opportunity.

I have no idea about which multilingual plugin is best, it is a confusing niche. Last year, at WordCamp Europe, I spoke to the French couple behind Polylang, they are very nice people, but I am not yet familiar with their plugin.

My guess is that, for developers who are open to using DeepL, they will not need 90% of the features that the multilingual plugins provide

I would use a multilingual plugin to establish the website structure that gives each of the 8 other languages that DeepL provides its own subfolder (so, /fr/ and /es/ etc), and to supply the language switcher that appears on each page.

Then, I would like to use the DeepL API to translate all the existing posts, pages, custom post types, and all other public-facing text of any kind (including image descriptions, custom meta fields, SEO meta fields etc) into all 8 languages.

Then, I would like the default option, upon publication of new posts, pages and CPTs, to have the DeepL API create the 8 other language versions of that new item.

First, a big thanks for your input.

My position re. WPML might have evolved a bit ??

“Then, I would like to use the DeepL API to translate all the existing posts, pages, custom post types, and all other public-facing text of any kind (including image descriptions, custom meta fields, SEO meta fields etc) into all 8 languages.”
Thanks for this scenario. Would this occur :

• on a one time basis (like migrating a one language website to a multiple language website)
• or on a regular basis (like repeating the same scenario for each new post and/or the possibility to redo the translations for an existing post) ?

“I would like the default option, upon publication of new posts, pages and CPTs, to have the DeepL API create the 8 other language versions of that new item.”

That is the main user need for the current client ; the ability to expand their current websites, more likely one page at a time ( to save credits on big websites + to manually check the proper quality of the translation ).

I expect this to be available on the free plugin for posts & pages & medias (title, content, excerpt) and on a new paid plugin for CPT + custom fields

I expect this to be available next month (June)

The reason for these questions is it seems more and more clear than a more powerful version of this plugin might be targeting different needs :

• batch translate a full website to several other languages on a one time basis – as a plugin version or a SaaS
• fully expand a single post to all configured languages
• deep translating of all the website (menus, custom fields, etc.)

and might therefore be sold as different versions with different pricings

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by malaiac.

As I see it, the vast majority of users will want to translate all their existing content in one go and, then, translate each new page, post, product or CPT as it is added.

Very few people will ever bother to redo a translation unless there has been some sort of formatting error, but all the multi-lingual plugins do allow you to edit the different versions of a post.

While I understand that your current client says that they will manually check the proper quality of the translations, they probably won’t actually bother. If a business is truly finicky about getting everything absolutely perfect, they should not be using machine translation in the first place.

Most businesses will use Deepl as a better-than-average machine translation that gives them cheap access to search traffic they would otherwise not have.

As such, pretty much all users will want to translate all their content into all available languages. 8 languages would be more-or-less the same effort as doing just one. No-one will care about the Deepl fees – an average article translated into 8 other languages will cost under one Euro (800 words x 8 languages = 6400 words = 49,000 characters = €0.98)

You should position your paid plugin with care. Your product will simultaneously piggyback on two other products: the Deepl service, and the existing multi-lingual plugins.

The benefit you can offer users is real but quite narrow. They can already use their multi-lingual plugin to copy n’ paste translations from the free DeepL Web translator and, working manually like this, they can translate every type of post, menu and custom field.

As you have already noted, the ability to batch process an entire website will be your key selling point. If you can release something that can perform that one job reliably, you will have a simple, straightforward product you can sell to a big audience.

Be careful not to confuse your potential customers with too many pricing variations. Have a free version that does one language per site, one post at a time. Let that be how potential customers find out whether your code works. It would be in your interests to ensure that this limited version works with as many different post types as possible, including products etc, and with all the major multi-language plugins.

Your one paid version should simply add all the additional Deepl languages and the ability to batch translate the entire site. Make it a quick, simple tool that will allow WordPress professionals to handle that particular part of their job more quickly.

Resist the temptation to apply crazy per-site licensing. Keep it simple, remember this is just a simple developer tool, like any other, and that site translations are not something they have to even offer their clients if it is going to be too complicated or expensive. Aim to be an easy, no-brainer purchase for most people who make or manage websites for clients.

A SaaS would be a completely different product, it would have a very different market, and it would take far longer to set up than you think. I do not think you have time for that; the opportunity that exists today will start to disappear as the various multi-language plugins start to add DeepL API integration as a feature. Your opportunity, right now, is to get out ahead of them.

The point of selling a WordPress plugin, rather than a Saas, is that you are not dealing with the end-users. You are selling to reasonably technical WordPress professionals who will use it to provide a service to their existing clients. This saves you the trouble of having to market to, and provide support to, the end-users. You are simply providing a tool that WordPress developers can add to their existing toolbelt. If you provide a good tool, at a fair price, the word will spread.

The market of people, all over the world, creating or managing WordPress sites for clients is truly massive. Stay focused on providing a simple tool that will do one job well. Give WordPress professionals a tool that will make it easier for them to unlock the value that exists in the combination of DeepL and the hundreds of millions of existing WordPress websites. It really is a rare opportunity.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by Donnacha.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by Donnacha.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 10 months ago by Donnacha.