WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress, we used them all. They have good/bad sides. in general, we do not recommend any of them, all plugins slow down the site a little bit. We think it is best to install WordPress separately as /en /de /fr /tr. I think this is a more natural and definitive solution. Or you can work with a professional WordPress expert who knows WPML or Polylang. Weglot can also be a good alternative.
Stick to the wordpress way of working, create several installation in different subdirectories.
I used Polylang and WPML. I understood that both of them slew down my wordpress installation and add unecessary tables to my wordpress database. I had plenty of problems because of these translation plugins like strange redirections.
Schema markups:
I also had bad data in schema markups. FOr example, for some reason, i could see the german “startseite” instead of “home” in the schema markups of webpages in english.
1 Navigation menu per language:
Multi language plugins make your wordpress installation more complicated. For instance, if three languages are available you must deal with 3 menus and your widgets should get displayed when it is the right time to do so. I already had french widgets that were displayed on english pages.
multi language Plugin editor lock-in
I still have a website that uses polylang. Since I pay for polylang pro, i understand I am trapped because paying for polylang pro is very important every year. I don’t like knowing that my website at the mercy of a plugin editor.
Performance and stability
The least plugins you have and the better it is. Multi language plugins slow down your wordpress installation. I think multi language plugins can make things much complicated and generate errors.
Unpractical in one wordpress installation
When you show all languages in the administration page of your page list. What a mess! You have for example blog pages for spanish, french, german, english, chinese… you name it.
one set of Widgets per language:
The plugin must have a complicated logic in place to display the right widget in the right language on the right page. For example: a link to your German twitter account. A link to your Spanish twitter account. So, under appearances > widgets, you will see a huge list of widgets in different languages!!! Good luck to you to manage it! For example, if you have 5 widgets in 5 different languages, this means you have 25 widgets.
My Suugestions
Better install wordpress in different language in subfolders. At the beginning, it will not look handy. However, you can create python programs to synchronize your independent installations.
