Hi there, really looking for some advice. I’ve built an e-commerce website using WordPress and woocommerce for a client. He has very little technical understanding. The site is massive. It predominantly needs to be English language but he is French and wants it in French. I’ve had a nightmare finding a translation plug-in to work with all of the existing elements of the website. I’ve finally found one that works and doesn’t screw everything up / cause major bugs / screw up caching. The client is not happy that the translation is poor and he’s got to improve it. Finding a translation plugin was a total nightmare and he doesn’t understand that it’s an MT but has editing capabilities which is the ideal. There is a small cost of $4.99 pcm but as the site is massive and it ticks all his boxes I don’t think this is unreasonable. However he says he doesn’t want to pay for this as the translation is so poor. How do I explain in layman’s terms that it’s not as straight forward as a perfect translation? I’ve tried about 10 different plugins and am beginning to tear my hair out. This is not the best paying project, I’m almost done and I need to draw a line under it. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Tell the client that good translations are not free. Someone has to do the work and they will want paying.

If they won’t listen then say goodbye and move on to new projects.

I’m working with a Belgian bank and they paid around €1500 for their French translations. 

Normally with a multi-lingual sites you have to duplicate all your content, words/phrases/microcopy for each language. I don't know about Wordpress but a good language addon will give you facilities to add your own translations.

From what you say does your plugin try to automatically do translations? If so these sort of things rarely work acceptably. The only real solution is to pay a professional translator so you get the exact wording you want.

The client needs to understand that free translations are free because not as much time and care has gone into them to make them work well, they are a sub-standard solution for those who simply want basic translation so people at least understand the content.

$4.99 pcm is well worth the cost in order to display the content properly to a new market, as if his products are that good, then a good translation will return that money in one sale.

It sounds like you're in a difficult situation, but trying different translation plugins is really the best way to find one that works for your client. Even if the translations are not perfect, having a plugin that is relatively affordable and can meet most of the requirements may be worth it in the end. It would be helpful to explain this to your client in terms of how much money and time you have saved them by finding a plugin that works, as well as the potential risks associated with using an unknown plugin. Ultimately, it may come down to what the client is willing to pay for the plugin, and if that amount does not provide sufficient value, then it may be best to find an alternative solution.

@Mark Berg- why are you resurrecting these ancient these to add nothing of value?