First steps

This guide takes you from zero to a site in two languages. You don’t need any technical knowledge: everything is done from your WordPress dashboard. Set aside about 20 minutes.

The LingoPress → Getting started screen shows the same steps and ticks off each one as you complete it, so you can always check what’s left.

Before you start

• WordPress 6.5 or later, and a hosting plan with PHP 8.1 or later (PHP is the language WordPress runs on). If you’re not sure which version you have, your hosting provider can tell you.
• A recent backup of your site. LingoPress doesn’t delete anything, but it’s always a good idea before installing a plugin that changes how your site works. Most hosting providers offer backups with one click.
• AI is optional. Everything multilingual works without it. You only need it if you want LingoPress to translate for you (see step 5).

1. Install LingoPress

1. In your dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.
2. Search for BallesDev LingoPress.
3. Click Install Now and then Activate.

A new LingoPress item appears in the dashboard menu. It opens on the Getting started tab.

2. Check your web address settings

LingoPress gives each language its own section in your web addresses, for example yoursite.com/es/… for Spanish and yoursite.com/en/… for English. For that to work, WordPress must use “pretty” addresses.

1. Go to Settings → Permalinks.
2. Choose Post name (any option except Plain works).
3. Click Save Changes.

If you already use one of those options, there’s nothing to do. Step 1 of Getting started shows a green tick.

3. Add your languages

Go to LingoPress → Languages.

1. Add your site’s main language first: the one your content is written in today. The first language you add becomes the default language.
2. Then add every language you want to translate your site into.

For each one, choose it from the Language list and click Add language. The other fields fill in by themselves:

• Name: how the language is shown to your visitors, for example English.
• URL prefix: the short code that goes in the web address, for example en. Keep the one LingoPress suggests: Google uses it to recognize the language.

You can change the default language later with Set as default in the list.

Dates and buttons in each language

WordPress shows its own texts (dates, “Read more” links, your theme’s buttons) in a language only if that language is installed in WordPress. To install it, go to Settings → General, pick the language in Site Language and click Save Changes. Then put your main language back and save again. The language stays installed.

4. Give a language to the content you already have

Important

Posts and pages you created before installing LingoPress don’t have a language yet, and they don’t appear in your site’s lists (your blog page, categories, searches) until they have one.

Open each existing post or page, choose its language in the Language box (in the editor’s sidebar) and click Update. If you don’t choose one, saving it again gives it your default language.

Everything you create from now on gets the default language automatically.

Coming from Polylang? You don’t need to do this: the importer brings over the language of all your content. See Coming from Polylang.

5. Connect an AI to translate for you (optional)

Go to LingoPress → AI translation and choose a Translation provider:

• WordPress (Connectors), if your site runs WordPress 7.0 or later. It uses the AI service you connected in Settings → Connectors, so LingoPress needs no key of its own. This is the simplest option.
• Claude, Gemini, OpenAI or GroqCloud with your own API key: a password-like code you get from that company’s website when you sign up. Each company charges for its use according to its prices.

Then write a short Site context: one or two sentences about what your site is about. It’s what improves the translations the most. Click Save AI settings.

All the details are in Translate with AI.

6. Translate your first post

1. Open a post in the editor.
2. In the Language box, under Translations, find the language you want.
3. Choose how to create the translation:
   • ✦ AI translate: the AI translates the title, the text and the excerpt. You can follow the progress right there. It only appears when an AI is connected.
   • + Create: makes a copy of the post in the other language for you to translate yourself.
4. Either way, the translation is saved as a draft linked to the original. Open it with Edit, review it and click Publish when it’s ready.

You can also translate many posts at once from your post list. It’s explained in Translate with AI.

7. Add a language switcher

The language switcher is the menu or list of links that lets your visitors change language. It always takes them to the same page in the other language.

The quickest way is to add the Language Switcher (LingoPress) block to your header, as you would add any other block. Other ways, such as a widget or a menu item, are explained in Language switcher and menus.

Keeping LingoPress up to date

LingoPress is distributed through the WordPress.org plugin directory, so new versions arrive like any other plugin update: you’ll see them in Dashboard → Updates. It’s free and needs no license key.