Using categories as multilingual mechanism

Question

Is there something wrong with the following approach. I dislike installing plugins (with database access) on my wordpress. But I want my wordpress to be multilingual .

What do you think about the option using the categories as the Language differentiation.
When some user creates a new post, he choose the language (Category).
In the theme Ill identify the language by the category.

Do you think it might work?

Thanks

Answer 1

It could be done this way, though I would use a custom taxonomy, not the default category taxonomy. Realistically, though, there is no reason for you to not install a multi-lingual plugin. If you're that wary of them, read the code for them before you install. Wordpress comes with a whole slew of outstanding i18n features which you would be leaving completely by the wayside were you to use your proposed method.

Answer 2

No, it doesn't work that way. Taxonomy terms and posts are in a n:n relation: each term may be assigned to multiple posts and each post to multiple terms.

But you probably want to set just one main language per post – taxonomies are the wrong tool for that. Use post meta data or a multi-site plugin to assign a language to a post.