Hello,
I would lie to get some advice concerning in building multi-lingual sites dynamically using PHP
i have a website that i need to build with an english and a spanish version.
I am still novice in PHP but would like to attempt a plan that would bring up the appropriate version dependant on the users selection.
I also want to do it without doing the same thing twice if you understand what i mean.
IS there any tutorials or has anyone built a site in comparison
i want to know like
what is the best approach
what methods do i use
would this be easier with javascript?
i was thinking about using a code that switches the BASE URL from a english to a spanish folder
e.g.
BASE URL = http://www.thedomain.com/spanish
if english
echo BASE URL = http://www.thedomain.com/english
any other suggestion of how i can approach this
Kendall
Building a multilingual site using PHP
Moderator: General Moderators
this board for example uses language templates.
e.g. there is a file lang_main.php in language/lang_english and language/lang_german.
lang_english/lang_main.php sets $lang['Post_new_topic'] = 'Post new topic'; but lang_german/lang_main.php sets $lang['Post_new_topic'] = "Neuen Beitrag schreiben";.
Dependig on which file you include echo $lang['Post_new_topic'] will output the english or the german version.
Wether this is applicable for your website depends on the amount of text and the complexity to install the template(s).
e.g. there is a file lang_main.php in language/lang_english and language/lang_german.
lang_english/lang_main.php sets $lang['Post_new_topic'] = 'Post new topic'; but lang_german/lang_main.php sets $lang['Post_new_topic'] = "Neuen Beitrag schreiben";.
Dependig on which file you include echo $lang['Post_new_topic'] will output the english or the german version.
Wether this is applicable for your website depends on the amount of text and the complexity to install the template(s).
I would simply try to code some sort of automatic translation fetching device from Bablefish.
Or simply point your users to Bablefish or a similar translation site, but remember translators might not pick up slang or some "politically incorrect" sentences and the translation may not work properly.
What volka suggested is a very good way to do a multilingual site. It requires much more work and effort than the way i suggested but it gets the job done. And well might i add since you are defineing all the variables and not some strange translator some odd-named company owns.
Or simply point your users to Bablefish or a similar translation site, but remember translators might not pick up slang or some "politically incorrect" sentences and the translation may not work properly.
What volka suggested is a very good way to do a multilingual site. It requires much more work and effort than the way i suggested but it gets the job done. And well might i add since you are defineing all the variables and not some strange translator some odd-named company owns.