Service
Bilingual Welsh and English websites, built so both languages work
A bilingual website done properly has a Welsh page for every English page at its own address, hreflang tags that tell Google which is which, a switch that keeps the reader on the page they were reading, and Welsh written by a person. We add that to any site we build from £350, and the test we build to is the one the Welsh Language Standards apply to public bodies: Welsh treated no less favourably than English. Most bilingual sites in Wales fail it in the first minute, usually at the switch.
The add-on
Bilingual Welsh and English
from £350 on any package
- Welsh translation by a human translator, never machine output; reviewed by a second Welsh speaker for the pages people read first
- A Welsh version of every page at its own address (yourdomain/cy/), not a widget
- hreflang for Welsh and English on every page, so Google shows each searcher the right version
- A language switch on every page that keeps you on the same page, and remembers the choice
- Welsh titles, descriptions, menus, form labels, error messages and the 404 page
- Welsh-first option: Welsh loads by default and English is the switch
- Fonts checked for ŵ, ŷ and the grave and acute forms of w and y
The from-price covers a site of up to about 3,000 words. Larger sites are quoted by word count from the signed-off English.
The test
Done properly, against what we usually find
Seven places a bilingual site is either right or quietly wrong. The middle column is what the standards mean by no less favourable; the last is what an audit of a Welsh site most often turns up.
| Element | Done properly | What we usually find |
|---|---|---|
| The Welsh text | Written or checked by a translator; a second reader for the pages people land on first | A machine translation widget, or Welsh from 2014 nobody has read since |
| Addresses | A Welsh page for every English page at its own address, yourdomain/cy/gwasanaethau for /services | One address whose text swaps, so Google only sees English and nobody can link to the Welsh |
| hreflang | Every page declares its cy and en twin, so a Welsh search is shown the Welsh page | Missing, or pointing every page at the home page |
| The switch | Cymraeg or English on every page, opening the same page, and the choice remembered | A flag in the footer that sends you to the home page, in English again |
| Titles, forms, menus | Welsh titles and descriptions, Welsh labels and error messages, Welsh menus and cookie banner | English titles over Welsh pages and 'This field is required' in red |
| Fonts | Faces checked for ŵ, ŷ and the grave and acute forms of w and y | Tŷ rendered as T plus a box |
| Launch and updates | The Welsh version live the same day as the English, every later change made in both | Welsh promised for phase two, still promised |
How we build it
Translation is a step in the schedule, not a button
The English is written first and signed off, because translating a draft twice costs twice. The signed-off pages go to a translator who works between Welsh and English professionally; for a public body or a charity we use a member of Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru, the association of Welsh translators and interpreters, whose members are examined. A second Welsh speaker then reads the home page, the service pages and the forms, because those decide whether the reader trusts the site.
Short strings are handled differently. The Welsh Government's Helo Blod service translates up to 500 words a month free for businesses and charities in Wales, and we point clients at it for signage, social posts and the odd new line, so the paid translation goes on the pages and not the button labels. The site's own dictionary, every button, error message and menu item in both languages, lives in one file, so a change in one place changes it everywhere.
Then the build: the Welsh site under /cy/ with the same structure as the English one, an hreflang pair on every page, a switch that links page to page, the choice remembered, and a sitemap listing both versions with their own dates. Before launch a Welsh speaker uses the site on a phone from the Welsh side only, including sending the form. Both versions go live on the same morning, and after launch every change is a change in both languages: a new page on the Growth tier is translated as part of the month.
Who should
Three kinds of organisation that need it, and two that can wait
Public bodies and their suppliers. Councils, health boards, universities, national parks, police and fire services and the Welsh Government are under standards that require the text of every page in Welsh, every Welsh page fully functional, and Welsh treated no less favourably. A business delivering a public-facing service under contract to one of them is usually asked to meet the same test; the charities and public bodies page covers the duty in detail.
Businesses in the Welsh-speaking counties. Gwynedd at 64.4%, Ynys Môn at 55.8%, Ceredigion at 45.3% and Carmarthenshire at 39.9%. A shop in Caernarfon or a builder in Llanybydder trades in Welsh every day, and an English-only site tells the customer something the owner never meant to say. Here Welsh first is normal: Welsh loads by default and English is the switch. Charities and community organisations funded by the Welsh Government, the National Lottery Community Fund or a council are the third: the grant paperwork asks how the project will be delivered in Welsh, and the public-facing pages in both languages answer it.
Who can wait: a trade in Wrexham, Cardiff, Swansea or Newport whose customers search in English, and a tourism business whose guests come from England. Both are better served by a Welsh layer, the welcome, the place names, the menu, than by a full second site, and the layer can grow into the site later. We say which in the audit, and we do not sell the add-on where it will not be read.
Questions businesses in Wales ask us
Is Google Translate good enough for the Welsh?
No. Machine Welsh reads like machine Welsh to anyone who speaks it, it mangles mutations and place names, and a public body using it would fail the standards' test of treating Welsh no less favourably. Every Welsh word on a site we build was written or checked by a person.
Will a Welsh version help my Google ranking?
A little, and not in the way people hope. Welsh-language searches are far fewer than English ones, so a /cy/ page rarely brings a flood of visitors; what it does is rank for the Welsh searches that exist with almost no competition, and convince the Welsh-speaking customer choosing between you and someone else. The English pages carry the traffic; the Welsh pages carry the trust.
What if the site is bigger than 3,000 words?
Translation is paid by the word, so the add-on is quoted from the signed-off English. £350 covers a Starter-sized site; a Business site with guides is more, and the quote says how much before a word is translated.
We have a Welsh speaker on the staff. Can they write it?
Yes, and it is the best option: they know the business. We still have a second person proofread, we still build the /cy/ site with the hreflang and the switch, and the price drops because the translation is done.
Why is this website only in English?
Because the people who search for a web designer in Wales search in English, and because we are not Welsh speakers ourselves: our bilingual builds use a translator, and this site is on that translator's list, page by page, starting with this one. We would rather say that than ship machine Welsh to look the part.
Send us a bilingual site and we will tell you where it fails the test
Yours or one you admire. You get the seven-point check above filled in for that site, what it would take to fix, and, if you are building new, a fixed price for the Welsh version alongside the English.