Site redesign and dual language. Suggestions?

Question
#1

Hello everyone, I’ve finished restyling my personal website (I still have to work on it a bit) where I talk about my works and show the things I make. I was wondering if it was possible to insert the double language (English) on the pages already created without having to create a double site (Italian/English). I thought of these solutions, in your opinion which are the most functional? Does anyone have the same problem as me?

  1. Google Translate
    I’ve noticed that if I try to translate automatically with Google Translate, for some reason the page design gets corrupted. Sure it’s not very elegant to use Google’s service for translation, but it’s certainly a possibility.
  2. Double paragraph
    I would leave the Italian text at the top and the corresponding English translation at the bottom. Maybe I should do it the other way around since my work is aimed more at an international audience than an Italian one. This however was another idea.
  3. Pop-Up!
    Or insert a pop-up that can be activated by the user (for example by putting a button with a flag) that once clicked translates only that part of the text in the desired language (I imagine that it will take a lot of work…)
  4. Double site
    Maybe the best solution?

Thanks to those who want to advise me.

#2

not really a double site feature, but using the multi language setup on Sparkle allows better experience for the visitors - if you know how, you can even redirect geolocated IPs to their language page automatically, making it seamless. So using the Sparkle built-in feature is my recommendation (creating a English section with /en/ directory and using the feature on the pages to set up its main language)

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#3

From a SEO point of view having pages in a single language is preferable, I think it’s generally advisable unless the site is about language comparisons (which would require setting a language attribute at a paragraph level, something Sparkle is not quite equipped to do).

So I’d go for #4.

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#4

Here’s an example that I’ve recently completed of what Duncan refers to (#4):

In short:

  • Using an Automated translator is certainly faster
  • But making dedicated language version in the long term will yield much better site exposure

It’s a decision that is really made on a per site basis.

Regards,
Chris

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