SharePoint Online Multilingual: The Site Editor and Content Creator

In our previous article, SharePoint Online Multilingual: The Site Owner, Site Admin, and Translator, we reviewed the steps necessary to enable SharePoint Online Multilingual capabilities from the perspective of the Site Owner, Site Admin, and Translator. When creating the Communication Site, it is important to remember that the language chosen during the Communication Site creation will become the default language. Once the Communication Site is created, the default language cannot be changed.

Now that the site is created and the translators are assigned, we will continue the process as Site Editors and Content Creators in implementing SharePoint Online Multilingual. Editors and content creators will define the site structure and create the content in the native language of the Communication Site.

As new content appears, translators will be notified by email request to translate the pages. Once translated, translators will publish the content which in turn will generate an email to the site owner or site admin notifying them that the translation is complete.  

Creating Pages for the Languages You Want

Next, you can create the pages for translation by following these steps:

1. Go to the default language page that you would like to have translated;

2. Select Translation on the top bar; and

3. Choose one of the two options:

a. Create for All Languages which will create a page for translation in each of all the languages available for your site; or

b. Create for only specific languages.

After creating the translation pages, publish or republish the default language page. This will ensure that the translation pages will be shown in the corresponding language site, News web part and Highlighted content web parts will be displayed correctly, and all the languages you enabled will appear in the dropdown menu at the top of the site.

Now that the page or pages are created, the status of the page, such as draft saved or published, is displayed in the translation pane next to each language. Once the page is saved and published, an email will be generated and sent to the assigned translator informing him or her that there is a request for translation for the page or pages.

Viewing a Translation Page on its Site

At the top of the default site language page, select the dropdown. Choose the language for the translation page that you want to view. By choosing the language in this dropdown, the language will apply for all pages on the site for the duration of the browser session. This does not affect your user language preference or the language displayed for the site name, title, and navigation.

Checking Status of Pages

In the translation pane, the status of each page is displayed next to the language. These statuses may include draft saved, published, submitted, and so on. To check the status of pages:

1. Go to the default language page; and

2. At the top of the page, select Translation. Here, the translation pane will be on the right-hand side which will display the status of the pages. Additionally, there will be a link, View Page, that will take you to the page if you click on it.

More Tidbits

What about the menus – how do the site, navigation and hub navigation menus work?

On the site, when a user of the defaulted language navigates, the language will appear as the default language. However, if the user is a multi-language user and navigates the site, the site will automatically point that user to the translated pages.

If the site owner adds a node to the page, it will appear on all pages in the default language. The translator will need to go in and edit the node to read in the chosen multi-language. Users can switch between languages easily with the drop-down menu on the top right.

How does SharePoint know the user’s default language? In O365, the user profile has a language associated with this and in the active directory, this is what is used to determine the default language. If there is no language associated with the active directory or O365 profile, then the site web language is used.

A Communication Site is composed of two portions. The site structure itself which includes the site title, navigation nodes, and footers, which are defined by the Site Admin or Site Owner. The second portion is the content which includes pages and SharePoint news modern pages experience, which is created by the Site Editor or Content Creator.  Creating a multilingual experience from site structure through the delivery of curated content, and by providing the end-user the ability to switch between languages, the end-user will experience a full multilingual user experience.