Making a Joomla site multilingual, in the right order

Everything below is core. No extension required, which is one of the better arguments for Joomla over its competitors.

1. Install the languages

System, Install, Languages. Pick the packs you need. This installs the interface translation, and nothing about your content yet.

2. Enable the language filter

System, Plugins, then System - Language Filter. This is the piece that decides which language a visitor gets and keeps them in it. Nothing multilingual works before this is on, and half the "my translations do not show" questions end here.

3. Create content languages

System, Manage, Content Languages. An installed language pack and a content language are two different records, which is the second place people get stuck. Each content language needs a URL code, an image and a status of published.

4. A menu per language

Each language gets its own menu, and each menu needs its own Home item set to that language. Not one shared home page. The default language keeps the site's real home; the others get theirs.

Then add a language switcher module so visitors can actually change.

5. Content per language

Write the articles and tag each one with its language. Articles set to All will show up in every language, which is right for something like a contact address and wrong for prose.

6. Associate

Under Components, Multilingual Associations, link the versions of the same article to each other. Do this and the language switcher takes a visitor to the translated version of the page they were on. Skip it and it dumps them on the home page, which is the most common complaint about multilingual Joomla and is not Joomla's fault.

Before you start

Decide whether you need multilingual at all. Two languages is roughly double the content maintenance forever. Plenty of sites would be better served by one language done properly and a short summary page in the other.