multilingual tutorial

Introduction

Internationalization (or simply i18n) is one of Drupal's most complex module suites. It covers many different multilingual needs - so, in order to make the most of it, you have to know what you're doing.

For the beginner Drupal user, building a multilingual site seems quite straightforward, but in fact it represents a challenging task. That's because each site is based on different multilingual demands.

For instance, have you got 100% of the content in different languages? If not, will your site display content in a default language as a fallback? Does your client adopt subdomains for each language? etc.

Those are interesting use cases.

However, this guide is intended for those who can install Drupal, yet still don't know their way around i18n. We'll cover the basic setup of a multilingual site: how to display some hypothetical content in more than one language, assuming only one language is seen at all times.

We'll use two languages, each with its own footer, menu, contact form... and content. We'll also see how to keep the same image across posts, and how to organize posts in views with different paths.

Remember: whenever you see example.com, replace it with your actual domain. ;)

Requirements

In order to complete this tutorial, you must know how to:

Some external links and articles about Drupal 7 and i18n:

• Drupal 7 Multilingual: What's new in i18n
• Internationalization for Drupal 7, overview of Beta1
• Drupal 7's new multilingual systems compilation
• Drupal 7 i18n articles compilation

Here are some multilingual advanced techniques which can be used for specific use cases. Please make sure to read the main sections of the "Multilingual Guide" handbook before trying these user-created snippets and tutorials.

For your information, complementary snippets are available at HowTos, tutorials and links if you are building your website with the contributed Internationalization (i18n) module in Drupal 7.

External references

Installing Drupal 6 in Another Language by Addison Berry (Lullabot)

One of Drupal 6's nice new features allows you to install Drupal using a language other than English. This video will show you how to get a translation, extract it and run the installer with the new language.

Watch the video (18 minutes, 28.7 MB in mp4 format)

Installing Drupal in French by Mickael, birdmanx35 (Lullabot)

Created for a GHOP task, this screencast details Drupal 6's new language support options, including installation and translation. This video actually has its own page in the handbook: http://drupal.org/node/212321

Some external links and articles about Drupal 6 and i18n:

• Making Attachments Appear Across Translations [Lullabot]
• Internationalization on Drupal Groups
• Setup for a multilingual site [Drupal Translation]
• Tutorial: Drupal for multiple languages [part 2] [part 3] by Ignacio Segura

Some on site tutorials and HowTos: