Managing Multilingual SharePoint Sites for Courses and Events

Modern SharePoint supports multilingual content and user experiences through multilingual page variations, the Multilingual User Interface (MUI), and flexible filtering of courses/events by language. This guide covers page variations, filtering strategies and email templates in multiple languages.

1. How Multilingual Page Variations Work

SharePoint allows you to create independent page variations for each language. Each variation is its own page, enabling both translation and localized customization.

Key characteristics

• Each language variation is a separate page.

• Pages can contain different text, different layouts, or even different web parts (e.g., filtered course/event views).

• Translation is not automatic—content must be translated manually.
  (The MUI changes UI elements, but the content must be translated by people.)

This architecture is ideal for multilingual course/event sites where learners or participants must see local content.

2. Showing Courses/Events per Language with Filtered Views

To ensure a clean and language‑specific user experience, configure your course/event list to support filtering by language.

Step 1 — Add a multi‑select “Course/Event Languages” column

Create a Choice column named:

✔ Course/Event Languages

Organizers can select one or more languages the course/event supports.

Step 2 — Create views for each language

Examples:

• Courses/Events – English → Filter: Course/Event Languages contains “English”

• Courses/Events – French → Filter: Course/Event Languages contains “French”

• Courses/Events – Spanish → Filter: …

These views allow variation pages to display only relevant sessions.

Step 3 — Add the appropriate view to each language variation page

On the English page, add the English view.
On the French page, add the French view.

Since variation pages are independent, web parts can differ per language.

3. How SharePoint Chooses Which Variation to Display

SharePoint automatically determines which language variation to show based on the client language, using:

• Browser language settings

• Operating system language settings

User override: the language selector

Users can switch manually via the top‑right language dropdown at any time.

4. Managing Multilingual Email Templates

SharePoint-based training and event systems rely on email templates that can deliver language‑appropriate communication.

Two recommended approaches:

Option 1 — A multilingual (combined-language) template

Create a single template containing all supported languages:

Hello,

<English content>

---

Bonjour,

<Contenu français>

---

Hola,

<Contenido en español>

Benefits

• Works for all participants regardless of their language settings

• Prevents mismatched invitations

• Reduces template maintenance

Option 2 — Use a per‑event placeholder: “Notification Body”

Step A — Create a Notification Body column

Create a Multiple lines of text column called:

✔ Notification Body

Organizers can type:

• Only English

• Only French

• Bilingual content

• Or any combination needed for that specific course or event

Step B — Build your template using ONLY this placeholder

{Notification Body}

Advantages:

• Maximum flexibility for multilingual or event‑specific messaging

• Only one template required

   

Need Assistance?

If you need help setting up your multilingual event or training management SharePoint website, feel free to contact our support team.