If you have guests who speak different languages, you've probably already thought about how to make sure they feel at home on your site. Joy lets you create separate pages for different language groups and assign each one to exactly the right guests, so your Spanish-speaking guests see pages written in Spanish, your English-speaking guests see pages in English, and everyone arrives at a version of your site that was made with them in mind. This article walks you through the full setup.
Tag Your Guests by Language Group
Tags are how Joy knows which guests belong to which language group. Before sharing your website, make sure your guests are added to your guest list and tag them by language group.
From your Event Dashboard, click Guest List.
Select all the guests in one language group. You can select multiple guests at once by checking the box next to each name.
Click Assign Tags in the toolbar.
Select or create a tag for that group, for example "Spanish" or "English speakers."
Repeat for each language group.
For a full guide to creating and applying tags, see All About Guest Tags.
Choose Which Languages Guests Can Select
Joy can display its menus, buttons, and navigation labels in your guests' preferred language. This setting controls which language options you make available on your site.
From your Event Dashboard, click the gear icon and select Event Settings.
Scroll to the Language section.
Under Default Event Language, confirm your primary language is set correctly. This also sets the default currency and distance units for your event.
Under Languages your guests can choose, click the dropdown and select each language you want to offer.
Click Save Changes.
Set Visibility on Your Existing Pages
Your site already has pages built in your default language. The first thing to do is tell Joy which language group those pages belong to, so the right guests see them. For the full walkthrough of how page visibility works, see Setting Page Visibility for Specific Guests.
From your Event Dashboard, hover over Website, click the arrow, and select Manage Pages.
Click the visibility button next to a page.
Select Specific Guests and choose the tag for the group this page is written for, for example "English speakers."
Click Save.
Repeat for every page on your site.
Note: If you restrict a page to specific guests, every guest who should see it needs a matching tag or must be added individually. Any guest without a tag or not selected individually won't see that page.
Create Pages for Each Additional Language Group
Now create a version of each page for the other language groups. You'll write the content yourself in that language and assign each page to the right guests.
From your Event Dashboard, hover over Website, click the arrow, and select Add New Page.
In the Name field, type the page title in that language. Joy won't translate page titles automatically, so name it in the language your guests speak. For example, "Nuestra Historia" instead of "Our Story." That name is exactly what guests will see in their navigation.
In the Visibility dropdown, select Specific Guests.
Under Choose tags, select the tag for this language group, for example "Spanish."
Click Create Page.
Write your content in that language on the new page and click Save.
Repeat for every page you want to offer in another language.
For a full guide to building out your new pages, see Adding a Custom Page.
Set Up Language-Specific RSVP Questions
The same tag system works for your RSVP form. If you want each language group to see questions written in their own language, create separate versions of each question and assign each one to the right tag.
For this to work, your RSVPs need to be restricted to guests on your guest list so Joy can match questions to the right people. See Strict Name Matching for Your RSVPs to confirm that's set up.
From your Event Dashboard, click RSVP. The Questions tab opens automatically.
Expand the question you want to target and click Ask.
In the Question Visibility panel, select Specific guests.
Click Select Guests and Tags, choose the tag for this language group, and click Done.
Click Save.
Repeat for every language-specific question you want to add. For the full walkthrough, see Asking RSVP Questions to Specific Guests.
What Guests Will See
When a guest arrives on your site, they'll see two things in the header: a globe icon to switch Joy's interface to their preferred language, and an Unlock Guest Details button to access their assigned pages. Both appear before the guest has done anything, in your site's default language.
The globe is the guest's choice. Clicking it opens a language picker where they can select from the options you've made available in Event Settings. This switches Joy's menus, buttons, and interface into their preferred language.
The page visibility is automatic based on the assigned tags. Guests click Unlock Guest Details, enter their first and last name, and Joy matches them to your guest list.
When both work together, guests get the full experience. In the screenshots below, Marcel selected Español via the globe before unlocking, and their name matched the "Spanish" tag so they'll see the Spanish version of the website.
An English-speaking guest visits the same site and sees the website in their own language.
Still have questions?
Ask us directly! Click on the black and white chat bubble in the bottom-right corner of this page to ask us your questions, or you can email us at support@withjoy.com. You'll get a friendly response from someone on our team! 🙂