Multilanguage and Variations

Question

I need a professional suggestion in creating a multilanguage site in Sharepoint 2010. I know basics of SharePoint but I'm not the specialist one. So my problem is this: I need to create a multilanguage site, where multilanguage stands for all the content, not just for the "chrome" content.

I've been reading a lot for variations, but I don't know, Are they the best solution? Is there any important drawback?

Please guide me on this

Answer 1

MUI and Variations are 2 different concepts in SharePoint 2010! They both rely on Language packs to properly work, but the purpose is different:

1. MUI only handles UI elements such as Menu Items, Actions Links down to Column Headers (most OOTB are automatically translated, but you need to export Resource files for your own columns)
2. Variations handle CONTENT Translation too, meaning that it would DUPLICATE sites enabled for language variations (for each Language Label you create via Site Settings). Timer Job will ensure by default further synchronization of pages as soon as you create them, or you could manually perform the CREATE/UPDATE variations yourself. Later on, translators go and translate in appropriate language, or otherwise the default language will be shown if translation is not performed! You would also have to update the Language menu control to have full functionality properly.

That's the short story. For more details go here for setup and more details http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms493894.aspx