Bilingual Welsh and English websites: designing it in, not bolting it on

Bilingual delivery has to be designed in, not bolted on. A website built in English and then translated at the end almost always ends up with gaps: forms that only work in English, error messages nobody translated, emails that arrive in the wrong language and search that cannot find Welsh content.

For organisations in Wales, and for organisations delivering services there, a bilingual website is not a nice extra. Welsh speakers should be able to use the whole service in Welsh, and the Welsh experience should not be treated as less important than the English one.

This article sets out how we approach bilingual Welsh and English websites as a delivery team.

Start with the content model

The most important decision is made early and is easy to get wrong: how content is structured in the content management system.

A good bilingual content model:

Treats each piece of content as having two language versions, linked together, rather than two separate pages that happen to cover the same topic.
Stores both versions with the same structure, so a Welsh page has the same fields, components and metadata as its English equivalent.
Tracks translation status for each item, such as draft, awaiting translation, in review and published.
Links related content in both languages, so navigation, related links and listings work the same way in each.

When the two languages are linked at the content level, everything else becomes easier: switching, search, reporting on missing translations and publishing.

Language switching and URLs

Users should be able to switch language from any page and land on the equivalent page in the other language, not on the home page.

Practical points:

Put the language switch in a consistent, visible place on every page.
Label it in the target language, so a Welsh speaker sees "Cymraeg" and an English speaker sees "English".
Use a clear URL structure for each language, such as a language prefix or separate language-specific paths.
Consider translating URL slugs, so Welsh pages have Welsh URLs.
Mark the language of each page correctly in the page code, so screen readers pronounce content properly and search engines understand which version to show.
Tell search engines which pages are language alternatives of each other.

If a page genuinely has no translation yet, the switch should explain that clearly rather than quietly sending the user somewhere else.

A complete Welsh interface

The content pages are usually the easy part. The gaps tend to appear in everything around them. A complete Welsh interface covers:

Navigation and page furniture

Menus, headers, footers, breadcrumbs, buttons, cookie banners and accessibility statements all need Welsh versions.

Forms

Every form label, hint, option, button and confirmation page needs to be available in Welsh. Validation must work with Welsh text, including characters such as the circumflex.

Error messages

Error messages are often generated by code or third-party components and are easy to miss. Every error, from a missing field to a server problem, should appear in the user's chosen language.

Emails and notifications

If a user completes a form in Welsh, the confirmation email, text message and any follow-up should also be in Welsh. That means storing the user's language preference and using it in every message the system sends.

Documents

Downloadable documents, generated letters and PDFs need Welsh versions. Where documents are generated automatically, the templates must exist in both languages.

Search

Site search should return results in the user's current language, handle Welsh words and mutations sensibly, and not hide Welsh content behind English results.

Third-party components

Payment pages, booking tools, maps and embedded services should be checked for Welsh support before they are chosen, not after they are built in.

Qualified translation with review

Machine translation can help with drafting, but it is not a substitute for qualified translators, particularly for public-facing and legal content.

A sound translation process includes:

Qualified Welsh translators for all published content.
A review step, ideally by a Welsh-speaking subject expert, before publishing.
A shared glossary of agreed terms, so the same thing is always called the same thing.
Style guidance on tone, register and plain language in both languages.
Context for translators, such as screenshots of where interface text appears.

Plain language matters in Welsh just as much as in English. Clear, natural Welsh is better than a literal rendering of the English.

A workflow that flags missing translations

Even with good intentions, content gets published in one language and the other is forgotten. The workflow should make that hard to do by accident.

Show translation status clearly in the content management system.
Flag pages where one language has been updated and the other has not.
Set rules about whether a page can be published before both versions are ready.
Give content owners a simple report of missing or out-of-date translations.
Include interface text, emails and documents in the same tracking, not only pages.

This is where a bilingual site either stays bilingual over time or slowly drifts back towards English-first. Our software engineering team builds these checks into the publishing workflow so they do not rely on memory.

The Welsh Language Standards

Many public bodies in Wales are subject to the Welsh Language Standards, made under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. The standards that apply vary between organisations, and each organisation receives its own compliance notice.

We do not give legal advice on which standards apply. What we can say is that a website designed with both languages in its content model, interface and workflow is far better placed to meet whatever obligations apply than one where Welsh has been added later. Organisations should check their own compliance notice and involve their Welsh language officer early in the project.

Testing in both languages

Test the whole service in Welsh, end to end, with Welsh speakers. That includes:

Completing every form in Welsh and checking every email or document that follows.
Triggering error states deliberately.
Switching language at different points in a journey.
Using assistive technology on Welsh pages.

Bugs found in Welsh testing are often bugs in the design, not the translation, so test early.

Talk to us

We design and build bilingual services for public sector organisations, with Welsh built into the content model, interface and workflow from day one. Read more about our approach to public sector delivery, or contact us to talk about your project.