zhCJK scriptHow to translate WordPress to Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Simplified) (简体中文) reaches roughly ~1.1 billionspeakers. Here's what's actually involved in translating a WordPress site into it — the technical setup, the Chinese (Simplified)-specific gotchas, and the SEO.
What's specific to Chinese (Simplified)
Most of translating WordPress is the same in any language, but each language has quirks that break layouts or SEO if you ignore them. For Chinese (Simplified):
- Gloty translates into zh and emits zh as the hreflang code. If you need Simplified and Traditional as separate versions of your site, that is a script split (zh-Hans / zh-Hant) Gloty does not currently offer — tell us if you need it.
- No word spaces; very compact — but ensure adequate font size and line-height for legibility.
- Huge market; verify your fonts include the full Simplified glyph set.
- Formality: Register varies; generally less T-V distinction than European languages.
Step by step
1. Add Chinese (Simplified) as a target language
Set your source language, then add Chinese (Simplified) (zh) as a target. With an automatic plugin you don't create a translated copy of every page by hand — it translates on the fly.
2. Translate — automatically or by hand
Machine and AI translation get you Chinese (Simplified) coverage in minutes; review the strings that matter (navigation, calls to action, legal) for the right register. Estimate the cost with the translation cost calculator.
3. Serve it under a clean URL
Publish Chinese (Simplified) under a language-prefixed path like /zh/. Give pages readable slugs with the slug generator — important for Chinese (Simplified), since CJK characters otherwise become percent-encoded in URLs.
4. Get the Chinese (Simplified) SEO right
Add reciprocal hreflang pointing at your zh version (with x-default), set <html lang="zh">, and translate titles and meta descriptions. Build the tags with the hreflang generator and verify with the hreflang checker.
Doing it the easy way
Gloty translates your whole site into Chinese (Simplified) automatically — with no API key to set up — stores it in your own database, and emits the correct hreflang and lang/dir attributes for you. See how it stacks up against Weglot and WPML, or read the pillar guide on making WordPress multilingual.
Chinese (Simplified) translation FAQ
- What is the hreflang code for Chinese (Simplified)?
- The hreflang / BCP-47 code for Chinese (Simplified) is "zh". Use it in hreflang tags and the <html lang> attribute.
- Does translating to Chinese (Simplified) change my layout?
- Chinese (Simplified) text is −30–50% shorter than English. Leave room in buttons and menus so translated text doesn't clip.
- How many people speak Chinese (Simplified)?
- Chinese (Simplified) (简体中文) has ~1.1 billion speakers and is written in the CJK script, left to right.
Add Chinese (Simplified) to your WordPress site in minutes — automatic AI translation, stored in your own database.