Keep default language (on backend), but have another language the home (main) language on the front ...

This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem:
The client wants to maintain Dutch as the default language for backend operations and translations, while setting English as the primary language on the front end of the website. The client also wants the original URL to direct to the English version, with Dutch available in the language menu.
Solution:
We recommend two features to achieve this setup:
1. Change the display language of the Back End: You can change the display language in the backend by navigating to Users > Profile in your WordPress dashboard. This change will only affect the user interface and not the content language.
2. Create content in any language with WPML: By using the flag option in the top-bar on the website's backend, you can switch and create content in any language, such as Dutch. This allows content creation in Dutch while keeping the website's default language as English.
Currently, there is no feature to permanently set a different default language for the backend, but setting it to Dutch will remain until changed again.

If this solution does not resolve your issue or seems outdated, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the problem persists, please open a new support ticket.

This is the technical support forum for WPML - the multilingual WordPress plugin.

Everyone can read, but only WPML clients can post here. WPML team is replying on the forum 6 days per week, 22 hours per day.

Tagged: Exception

This topic contains 3 replies, has 1 voice.

Last updated by milcoP 6 days, 18 hours ago.

Assisted by: Lucas Vidal de Andrade.

Author	Posts
January 21, 2025 at 10:51 am #16617868
milcoP	Background of the issue: I want to keep my default language to Dutch for backend changes and translations, but I want the English language as the primary language on the front end. The original URL should direct to the English version, and the Dutch translation should be available in the language menu. Symptoms: No specific issue or error message mentioned. Questions: Is it possible to have English as the primary language on the front end while keeping Dutch as the default language for backend changes?
January 21, 2025 at 11:12 am #16617950
Dražen Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+01:00)	Hello, Thanks for contacting us. While you wait for my colleague to take over the ticket, let me try to help you with the issue quickly. Yes, it is possible, if you change the default language from WPML settings, it will only change the default language for the frontend. For backend you create new pages as default in the language you wish and then translate them to another. You can also set your user display language from the user profile. Hope this helps. Regards, Drazen
January 21, 2025 at 11:32 am #16618112
milcoP	mmmmm, can you help me find out where i go wrong? see image i created a new testpage and the standard is english, and i can translate it to dutch (see on the right)
January 21, 2025 at 12:40 pm #16618479
Lucas Vidal de Andrade Supporter Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português ) Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)	Hey there, Let me provide more details on that. There are 2 features that might help you to achieve your desired result. 1. Change the display language of the Back End WordPress allows you to change the display language used in the Back End of your user's profile. That does not affect the language the content is created in (I'll go over it in the next item), and only changes the language of the elements you see in the menus and the tools you're using. To change the display language, you can go on Users > Profile. The changes will only apply to your user. 2. Create content in any language with WPML By changing the language, using the flag option in the top-bar on the website's back end, you can create content in any language. If you switch the language to Dutch, for example, content will be created in the Dutch language and can be translated into other languages. Your website default language will still be English, if it's set so. At the moment, there's no way to change a language as default in the Back End, but if you change to Dutch, it will stay that way for a while. Let me know if this addresses your issue.
January 23, 2025 at 1:19 pm #16628064
milcoP	perfect, thank you.