If you’ve ever tried to scale a multilingual CMS across departments, regions, and regulatory environments, you know the pain: bolt-on translation plug-ins, scattered workflows, and expensive “customizations” that age badly.
In this episode of The Agile Localization Podcast, host Stefan Huyghe sits down with Mathias Bolt Lesniak, Project Ambassador for the TYPO3 Association, to unpack how one of Europe’s leading open-source, community-driven CMS platforms delivers enterprise-grade multilingual content at massive scale.
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Start with Open Source, Then Pick Your CMS
Mathias flips the usual vendor comparison on its head: don’t start by comparing individual platforms; start by deciding open source vs. closed. Open source delivers digital sovereignty: you own your roadmap, your data, and your future.
Once you’ve made that call, TYPO3 stands out inside the open-source universe for its deep, native focus on multilingual and multisite capabilities. That’s a crucial distinction. In the enterprise, multilingual can’t be a plugin; it needs to be part of the core.
"If you’re an enterprise, go for a content management system that has core support for multilingual features, because one of the things you don’t want to do in a large, complex CMS installation is to have to deal with different implementations of multilingual.
Why “Core Multilingual” Beats Add-Ons Every Time
Enterprises often treat localization as a costly checkbox, something to minimize rather than operationalize. That mindset leads to fragile stacks where every team does multilingual differently. TYPO3’s core approach gives you one consistent model, from content modeling to language variants to update diffs, so teams translate what changed instead of re-translating everything.
That change-diff capability is a quiet superpower. When the source string shifts by a line, translators see exactly what changed and only fix what’s needed. At scale, that discipline trims cost, reduces risk, and shortens release cycles.
Real-World Complexity
Need proof? TYPO3 powers the University of Vienna across roughly 1,200 websites, spanning 32 languages and hundreds of thousands (even up to a million) content items. It’s a perfect storm of size + governance + multilingual sophistication, and it runs on TYPO3’s built-in language and site features rather than duct-taped extensions.
Community Translation Done Professionally
Open source doesn’t mean “amateur hour”. In fact, TYPO3’s localization quality is strong because the people translating often use the software daily. The workflow centers on Crowdin:
- TYPO3 core and public extensions live in Crowdin.
- Community contributors translate; language leads review.
- TYPO3’s localization servers cache approved strings in XLIFF, then deliver them to instances automatically.
- Enterprises can blend the public layer with private Crowdin projects, ideal when you need proprietary modules or terminology kept in-house.
It’s the best of both worlds: a living public glossary for shared UX strings, plus private control for brand-sensitive content.
Design for Culture
A frequent enterprise failure mode is to stop at translation. Mathias stresses cultural adaptation: tone, examples, reading direction, and grammar rules. Code must reflect that reality. Even pluralization differs: French handles zero differently from English; Arabic flips layout direction. TYPO3 bakes these considerations into both content and interface localization so teams aren’t hacking exceptions downstream.
What’s the difference between Translation and Transcreation?
Editors Are the Real Stakeholders
Procurement cycles tend to prioritize IT and marketing, but editors live with the results. Put them in the room early. Editors need intuitive workflows for switching languages, reviewing diffs, and pushing updates without breaking structure. If you want sustainable multilingual operations, optimize for the people who touch content every day.
AI: Faster, not “Set and forget”
Yes, AI is changing localization. TYPO3 agencies already integrate DeepL and similar engines to auto-draft translations with a click. But the job isn’t finished at machine output. Enterprises still need human QA for voice, cultural resonance, and risk mitigation. AI accelerates velocity; people ensure fitness for purpose.
Sustainable Governance Matters
A final reason TYPO3 succeeds at enterprise scale: governance. The TYPO3 Association oversees strategy and invests in the core. The TYPO3 GmbH (a for-profit subsidiary) provides commercial services like LTS support, certifications, and partner programs, feeding resources back into open source development. That structure gives enterprises a safety net (funding and accountability) without sacrificing community momentum.
Final Thoughts
Open source wins multilingual at enterprise scale when multilingual is native, workflows are transparent, and governance is sustainable. TYPO3’s deep integration with Crowdin, structured content model, and community-backed quality make it a serious alternative to big-ticket proprietary suites, especially for governments, higher education, and export-driven industries where language and culture aren’t optional.
Mathias’ Background
Mathias Bolt Lesniak is the Project Ambassador for TYPO3 Association, one of Europe’s leading open-source content management systems. With nearly two decades of experience working with TYPO3, he brings vast expertise in multilingual content management and open-source enterprise solutions. As a key figure in the TYPO3 community, Mathias has been instrumental in advancing the platform’s localization capabilities, particularly in supporting smaller languages and cultural adaptations.
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Localize your product with Crowdin
Yuliia Makarenko
Yuliia Makarenko is a marketing specialist with over a decade of experience, and she’s all about creating content that readers will love. She’s a pro at using her skills in SEO, research, and data analysis to write useful content. When she’s not diving into content creation, you can find her reading a good thriller, practicing some yoga, or simply enjoying playtime with her little one.