Multilingual websites that
sound native, not translated

Cost depends on three factors: number of languages, content volume per language, and translation method (in-house translators, freelance per language, or machine translation plus human review). Typical ranges. Adding two additional languages to an existing site with manageable content volume: €8.000 to €15.000 covering setup, design adjustments, translation coordination, and hreflang work. Five-language launch with moderate content: €15.000 to €30.000. Complex multi-market setup (eight plus languages, region-specific content variations, ongoing translation pipeline): €30.000 to €60.000+. Translation costs themselves sit separately, typically €0,10 to €0,18 per word for professional translators depending on language pair, or much less for DeepL plus human review setups. Hourly rates €60 to €65 across project roles. Our pricing page covers the broader rate structure.

Depends on the current stack. WPML: paid plugin (~€39 to €199 per year depending on edition), strong feature set, handles complex translation workflows, slower performance impact on traditional WordPress, the most common choice for WordPress sites with five plus languages. Polylang: free core plus paid pro edition (~€99 per year), lighter performance footprint than WPML, fewer enterprise features, fits smaller multilingual sites well. Headless CMS with locale-aware APIs (Strapi, Sanity, Contentful, Kontent, Storyblok): cleanest architecture for new builds, translation lives in the CMS and gets served via API to whatever frontend, scales well for sites adding languages over time. The right choice depends on existing stack, team familiarity, performance requirements, and budget. We pick during scoping rather than defaulting to one option.

Honest answer: depends on content type and brand sensitivity. Professional translators fit when: marketing copy needs brand voice consistency, legal or compliance content must be exact, technical documentation needs domain expertise, the content will be quoted or referenced (press releases, executive communications, regulatory filings). Cost: €0,10 to €0,18 per word depending on language pair. DeepL plus human review fits when: content volume is high (product descriptions, blog archives, FAQ pages), brand voice tolerance is moderate, speed matters more than literary quality, the budget per word is constrained. DeepL output for major European languages is genuinely good in 2026 and the human review step catches the remaining issues. Cost: roughly €0,02 to €0,04 per word equivalent including review time. Many projects use both: professional translators for the homepage, key landing pages, and legal content, DeepL plus review for the long tail.

Hreflang tells Google which page version to serve to users in which language plus region. Common mistakes: missing self-referencing hreflang (every page needs to declare itself plus its alternatives), inconsistent language-region codes (en-US versus en-us, fr-FR versus fr), broken bidirectional declarations (page A says page B is the French version, but page B doesn’t link back to page A), wrong canonical interaction (canonical pointing to a different language than hreflang declares). Done correctly, hreflang ensures French users in France see the French version, French users in Canada see the French-Canadian version if it exists, English users see the English version. Implementation options: HTML head tags, HTTP headers, or XML sitemap. We typically use sitemap-based hreflang for sites with more than 50 pages because maintenance becomes easier. Google Search Console hreflang reports help catch errors after launch, plus tools like Sitebulb or Ahrefs surface hreflang issues during audits.

The work that doesn’t appear in initial scoping but matters long-term. New content translation: every blog post, product description, page update needs to flow through translation. Workflow setup at launch makes this cheap, no workflow means every change becomes a panic. Translation memory maintenance: keeping translation memory clean as the site grows so repeated phrases keep their approved translations. Hreflang monitoring: as new pages get added, hreflang declarations need to follow. SEO drift per market: rankings can diverge between markets as Google algorithms change or competitors shift, monitoring needs to happen per locale. Plugin and theme updates: WPML or Polylang updates can occasionally affect translation display, regression checks needed after major updates. Typical ongoing maintenance budget: €500 to €2.500 per month depending on languages and content frequency, covered under the Care, Growth, or Partnership packages.

The strategic question, not the technical one. Common prioritisation framework. First, follow existing demand: if you already have traffic, leads, or sales from a specific country, that language gets priority. Second, follow business strategy: where does the business plan to expand commercially in the next 12 to 18 months? Translation work should precede or align with commercial launch. Third, language reach versus competition: Spanish opens a large market across Spain and Latin America at one translation cost. German is the largest single-language European market. French covers France, Switzerland, parts of Canada, parts of Africa. Fourth, regulatory or compliance requirements: if you’re selling into the EU under specific frameworks, certain languages may be required. Fifth, customer acquisition cost considerations: cheaper-to-acquire markets often justify earlier translation investment. We typically recommend launching with two to three carefully chosen languages first rather than ten at once, because subsequent languages get cheaper through translation memory plus established workflows.

Depends on scope. Adding two additional languages to an existing site with content volume under 50 pages: 3 to 6 weeks from kickoff to live. Five-language launch with moderate content (50 to 200 pages per language): 8 to 14 weeks. Complex multi-market setup (eight plus languages, region-specific content variations, ongoing pipeline setup): 16 to 24 weeks. The variable that surprises clients: translation review time. Professional translators typically take 1 to 3 weeks per major language for a typical website volume, plus review cycles with your internal team or country managers. Translation work often becomes the critical path, not the technical implementation. Plus DNS propagation and search engine reindexing add a few weeks after launch before per-locale rankings stabilise.