Whilst working on some updates to my WordPress plugins recently I have discovered some excellent resources covering the subject of making plugins translatable:
- The I18n for WordPress Developers page in the WordPress Codex covers all the basics and should get you started.
- John Godley (aka. Urban Giraffe) covers the topic in more detail, including the finer points of translating plurals, and the use of printf() instead of _e(). He also provides a companion article that approaches localisation from the point of view of the person doing the translation, something that is often overlooked.
- Finally Austin Matzko (Pressed Words) provides a succinct summary of internationalisation, including a look at Poedit, a cross platform editor for the translation files.
There is really no reason not to translate your WordPress plugins and themes, it requires minimal effort and can vastly improve the experience for users who’s first language is not the same as yours.
