A second language is not a translation task, it is a second site sharing a design. It doubles the pages, the maintenance, and the number of things that can quietly go out of date. Where the audience genuinely exists it is worth doing properly, and a half-maintained second version tends to cost more credibility than it earns.
Deciding whether you need one
Four questions settle it for most businesses.
- Do your customers actually search in that language? Checkable rather than assumable. Search your service in both languages with your city and see what exists and how competitive it is.
- Can you serve them in that language? A page in French that leads to a phone answered only in English creates a worse experience than not having the page.
- Does anything require it? Obligations vary by jurisdiction and by the nature of the business, so confirm what applies to your situation rather than assuming.
- Can you maintain it? The question that decides most cases, and the one asked last.
Where the answer to the second or fourth is no, a single well-maintained language usually serves customers better.
What it actually costs
The translation is the visible expense and rarely the largest one.
Every future change happens twice. A new service page, a price update, a change of hours, a seasonal campaign, a new photograph with a caption. Businesses budget for translating the site once and not for translating everything that comes after, which is why so many second-language sections are visibly a year or two behind.
There is also a review burden. Someone has to check that the translated version still says what the original says after each change, and in most small businesses nobody owns that.
Structure
Three arrangements are common and one is clearly preferable for a small business.
| Approach | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Subdirectories, such as /fr/ | The sensible default. One site, one domain, shared authority, straightforward to manage |
| Subdomains | Workable, and it separates the two more than a small site benefits from |
| Separate domains | Two sites to build, host, and maintain, with authority split between them. Rarely justified below a substantial scale |
Within that, each page needs a stable equivalent in the other language, and the two need to declare their relationship to each other so search engines serve the right version. Getting that declaration wrong is the most common technical fault on bilingual sites, and the symptom is the wrong language appearing in results.
The mistakes that undermine it
- Automatic browser-based redirection. Sending visitors to a language based on their browser settings, with no way to switch, traps people in the wrong version. Offer the choice and remember it instead.
- Machine translation left unreviewed. It has improved considerably and it still produces phrasing that reads as foreign to a native speaker, particularly in trade terminology. As a first draft reviewed by someone fluent it is efficient. Published unread it signals that the audience was not worth the effort.
- Translating only part of the site. A visitor who follows a translated page into an untranslated section has been dropped, which is worse than never offering the language.
- Untranslated forms and confirmations. Frequently missed, and it happens at the exact moment of conversion.
- A language switch that returns to the homepage, losing the page the visitor was on.
- Untranslated images with text baked into them, which are invisible to any translation process.
The parts people forget
Beyond the page copy: form field labels and error messages, the confirmation page, automated email replies, page titles and descriptions, alt text, the privacy policy, and anything appearing in the navigation or footer.
A site where the pages are translated and the enquiry process is not has translated the reading and left the transacting in one language, which is precisely backwards.
A workable middle path
Where a full bilingual site is not maintainable, a smaller commitment done well is a reasonable position: a single well-translated page in the second language covering who you are, what you do, the areas you serve, and how to reach someone who speaks that language.
That is honest, it is maintainable, and it serves the visitor better than twenty pages that were accurate in 2024. It also leaves the door open to expanding later if the enquiries justify it, which is a better sequence than building the full version first and watching it drift.
Frequently asked questions
Does my Canadian business website need a French version?
It depends on whether your customers search in French, whether you can serve them in French, whether anything applicable to your business requires it, and whether you can maintain it. Confirm the requirements for your own situation rather than assuming.
What is the best structure for a bilingual website?
Subdirectories on one domain for most small businesses. It keeps a single site with shared authority and is far easier to maintain than subdomains or separate domains.
Is machine translation good enough for a website?
As a first draft reviewed by a fluent speaker, it is efficient. Published without review it produces phrasing that reads as foreign, particularly in trade terminology, which undermines the audience it was meant to serve.
Should the site detect a visitor's language automatically?
Offer the choice and remember it rather than redirecting on browser settings alone. Automatic redirection with no way to switch traps visitors in the version they did not want.
What gets forgotten when translating a site?
Form labels and error messages, the confirmation page, automated email replies, page titles and descriptions, alt text, and text baked into images. These sit at the point of conversion, which makes them the worst omissions.
Is a partial translation better than none?
A single well-translated page covering who you are, what you do, your service area, and how to reach someone who speaks that language is honest and maintainable. Twenty pages that stopped being accurate two years ago is not.
West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.
Considering a second language?
We will tell you whether the audience is there, structure it so the two versions stay in step, and make sure the enquiry process is translated as well as the pages.
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