nlLatin scriptHow to translate WordPress to Dutch
Dutch (Nederlands) reaches roughly ~25 millionspeakers. Here's what's actually involved in translating a WordPress site into it — the technical setup, the Dutch-specific gotchas, and the SEO.
What's specific to Dutch
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 Dutch:
- Dutch compounds and translations run long — the classic case that overflows fixed-width buttons.
- nl-BE (Flemish) has minor differences from nl-NL; usually one nl covers both.
- Formality: je (informal) vs. u (formal).
Step by step
1. Add Dutch as a target language
Set your source language, then add Dutch (nl) 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 Dutch 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 Dutch under a language-prefixed path like /nl/. Give pages readable slugs with the slug generator.
4. Get the Dutch SEO right
Add reciprocal hreflang pointing at your nl version (with x-default), set <html lang="nl">, 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 Dutch automatically with the AI provider you choose, 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.
Add Dutch to your WordPress site in minutes — automatic AI translation, stored in your own database.