Drupal 8 has good support for developing multilingual sites. In this guide, we will describe the steps needed to setup a basic multilingual Islandora 8 site.
Drupal 8 comes with several multilingual modules in the core. Islandora 8 enables Language and Content Translation modules by default.
From the top menu, go to Configuration >> Regional and language >> Languages (http://localhost:8000/admin/config/regional/language). Add a language. You can place the default language selector block to switch between languages.To create the language switcher block go to Structure >> Block layout. Click Place block in a region of your choice. Search for Language switcher block and click Place block.
From the top menu, go to Configuration >> Regional and language >> Content language and translation. Check Custom menu link under Custom language settings. Scroll down to Custom menu link section and check all the relevant fields and Save the configurations. Clear the cache.
From the top menu, go to Structure >> Menu. Edit "Main navigation" menu. Default home menu item cannot be translated due to this issue. Disable that menu item. Click Add link to create a new menu item. Provide a menu title (i.e Home) and input <front> for the link field. Save. Right click on the Operations beside the new menu link and click the Translate button. Translate the menu link title for the language added above and save.
Go back to home. The language switcher will enable you to switch the language/content of the menu and content.
From the top menu, go to Content >> Add content >> Repository item. Provide the required fields and save the object. Click the Translate tab of the object, provide a title in the second language and fill any translatable fields (i.e description). Add the media for the object. Media object can be translated similar to the repositiry item node.
Go back to home, you should be able to view content in the language selected in the language switcher.
If you need the field labels of the Repositiry Item displayed in a different language, additional configuration is needed. Configuration translation module in the core needs to be enabled. Note that this will enable User Interface translation as well. Each field label needs to be translated. Cache should be cleared to see the changes.