I think it would be:

<?php
$alt_lang_link == ''; // Reset the link
//Only add the link if an alternative page is specified
if ($alt_lang_id['meta_value'] != '') {$alt_lang_link = $alt_lang_id['meta_value'];}
if(isset($alt_lang_link))
{echo 'English »’; }

else
{echo ‘English »’; }

?>

Excellent tutorial. Can you please explain how to modify this script in order to show a default link (eg. the home page) when there is no alternative page specified in the custom field?

regards
Alopex

Good question, and I’m not sure of the answer… I don’t use categories on the site that I’ve used this Bilingual technique on, so I haven’t really tried a way of doing it. Someone else might have though?

Sorry,
Al.

What can we do to link categories in different languages since they don’t have custom fields?

Yep, I guess that would work too, but I’d still need to create a separate theme for each language as well and would still have the issue of linking one post / page in one language to the same post / page in the other language. I’d imagine this would still have to be done manually by the administrators of each language as each database would end up with its own post ids etc.. This is even more pronounced when using title based permalinks as the titles are obviously different from one language to another.

One installation and 2 databases may have certain advantages, but having two installations was just as easy. The main issue was linking posts and pages from one language to the same posts and pages of the other language, which is where using the Custom Fields came in. I think I’d still need to do that with your solution anyway?

Al.

if $_session[lang] == en $database = wp_english
else $database = wp_german

first install the english, then copy the database and include the language link in the frontend. fill the content in both db’s.

you can also modify then the admin with a menu to select the databases.

you can even go farther, that you select specific tables in dependence on the session language in just one database.

Hi Charlie,
It seems to be woking perfectly at the moment. The site in question will have a couple of hundred pages so it isn’t live yet as we’re still waiting for some of the content and some of the translations but the bil-lingual side of things seems to be working well.