Plan multilingual project communication on a small budget
Multilingual communication is not simply translating every page. Start with the people who need to understand or act on the information, then choose a sustainable scope for your team.
1. Map audiences to essential actions
List who must understand the project, which languages they actually use and what they need to do. Prioritize participation instructions, accessibility information, consent materials and practical results rather than translating low-use announcements first.
- Audience and language need confirmed.
- Essential action and contact route identified.
- Owner assigned for each maintained language.
2. Write a clear source version
Use short sentences, stable terminology and explicit dates. Explain abbreviations and avoid wordplay that does not translate. Keep one approved source document and a shared glossary of programme terms, partner names and technical concepts.
3. Translate with accountable review
Machine translation or AI can help draft non-sensitive public text, but a competent reviewer should check meaning, instructions, links and tone. Do not send personal data to a translation provider without the necessary safeguards.
For legal, consent, safeguarding or other high-stakes material, use an appropriately qualified review process. A fluent draft alone is not enough.
Review record: source version → target language → translator/tool → reviewer → corrections → approval date → pages that must be updated when the source changes.
4. Publish and maintain consistently
Provide a visible language switch and keep users on the equivalent page when available. If a translation does not exist, say which language is available instead of presenting unchanged text as translated.
Use descriptive headings, meaningful link labels and accessible document formats. Track where users get stuck and revise the most important pages first. Budget time for updating translations after the initial launch.
Sources and further reading
Practical guides