Skip Navigation
Updated
February 13, 2025

Learn how to connect your website to leading translation services and send content for translation using WPML.

Why Use a Translation Service?

Translation services are a reliable way to translate your website. Unlike individual contractors and part-time freelancers, translation services employ professional translators with hands-on experience.

This guarantees a number of benefits: 

Excellent Translations

Get translations that match your content’s voice and sound natural to native speakers

Industry Specialization

Work with translation services that specialize in your website’s niche and industry

Save Time & Effort

Attend to other important tasks while professionals translate your website

At WPML, we work with over 70+ leading professional translation services from around the world.

Whether you run a small company page or a big corporate website, our partners specialize in dozens of industries, ensuring accurate translations for your specific niche. 

How to Use Translation Services in WPML

Using translation services in WPML is easy and secure. You can send content for translation directly from your WordPress admin, and external translators never have access to your website.

Here’s how the process works. 

1. Connect Your Website to a Translation Service

WPML offers two ways to connect your website to a translation service: during the setup wizard, or in the Translation ManagementTranslators tab. 

Connecting to a translation service in the setup wizard
Connecting to a translation service in the setup wizard
Connecting to translation service in Translation Management
Connecting to a translation service in Translation Management

Once you select your preferred translation service, you need to authenticate it with an API token. For instructions on obtaining a token, check the documentation for your specific translation service in our translation service directory.

Want to use a translation service not available in our default list? Follow the steps in the FAQ section to connect your website with an external service.

2. Hide Languages in Progress (Optional) 

WPML lets you temporarily hide all content in a specific language from your website. This ensures users don’t see translations in progress or partially translated areas of your website. 

To hide languages on your website, go to WPMLLanguages and scroll to the Hide languages section. Select the languages you want to hide and save your preferences. 

Hiding content in specific languages
Hiding content in specific languages

3. Send Content for Translation

To send content to a translation service: 

  1. Go to WPMLTranslation Management
  2. Select the content you want to translate.
  3. Under Translation controls, choose Assign translation service and send for translation.
Selecting translation service in Translation Management
Selecting to use a translation service in Translation Management

Remember that WPML doesn’t handle payments so you need to pay your translation service directly. 

4. Receive Completed Translations

Once translations are ready, WPML automatically fetches them and publishes to your website. Completed translations appear in the Translation Management dashboard with a checkmark icon.

Completed translations in Translation Management
Completed translations in Translation Management

Frequently Asked Questions

Get Started with WPML

To get started with translation services, you need WPML’s Multilingual CMS or Multilingual Agency account. 

Visit our pricing page to learn more.