[Resolved] Translate ACF field

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.

I am not sure how are you showing ACF field via custom code or some page builder, but you can try next steps:

1) Translate date format for your 2nd language:

- https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/translating-your-sites-date-format-using-wpml/

2) If you are showing your ACF field via PHP code, you can adjust it there also, please check next example:

- hidden link

Let us know if this helps.

Regards,
Drazen

Hello,

To be able to investigate the problem, we need to replicate the issue on a clean installation.
I created a clean installation of WordPress, ACF, WPML, and all necessary WPML add-ons.
You can access the WordPress dashboard using the link below:
hidden link

Kindly follow the steps below:

- Don't restore your site there.
- Reproduce the issue with minimal steps.
- Let me know once it's done and we will take a look.

Best Regards,
Otto

Hello,

Because the ACF date is inserted via an Elementor Theme Builder template as a dynamic tag, the date format cannot change per language within that single template. Elementor’s dynamic tag ignores ACF’s per-field hook return format. Therefore, with the current setup, achieving different date formats per language is not possible without changing the template approach.

Best Regards,
Otto

Hello,

If you your templates use directly ACF function get_field, you can hook in it and modify the date format.

Here you have an example:
<cod>
add_filter( 'acf/format_value/name=event_date', 'acf_event_date_format_by_language', 20, 3 );
function acf_event_date_format_by_language( $value, $post_id, $field ) {
if ( ! is_string( $value ) || $value === '' ) {
return $value;
}

// Detectar idioma actual (WPML)
$language_code = null;
if ( defined( 'ICL_LANGUAGE_CODE' ) && ICL_LANGUAGE_CODE ) {
$language_code = ICL_LANGUAGE_CODE;
} else {
$maybe_lang = apply_filters( 'wpml_current_language', null );
if ( is_string( $maybe_lang ) && $maybe_lang !== '' ) {
$language_code = $maybe_lang;
}
}
if ( ! $language_code ) {
$locale = get_locale();
$language_code = substr( (string) $locale, 0, 2 );
}

if ( strtolower( $language_code ) !== 'zh-hans' ) {
return $value;
}

$input_formats = array();
if ( isset( $field['return_format'] ) && is_string( $field['return_format'] ) && $field['return_format'] !== '' ) {
$input_formats[] = $field['return_format'];
}
$input_formats = array_merge( $input_formats, array( 'Ymd', 'Y-m-d', 'd/m/Y', 'm/d/Y', 'j F Y' ) );

$date_obj = null;
foreach ( $input_formats as $fmt ) {
$date_obj = DateTime::createFromFormat( $fmt, $value );
if ( $date_obj instanceof DateTime ) {
break;
}
}

if ( $date_obj instanceof DateTime ) {
return $date_obj->format( 'm / d, Y' );
}

return $value;
}
[/php]

Best Regards,
Otto

Hello,

It won't work in the current setup. With the Elementor set up the hook is skipped.

I created a full example using a shortcode, you can see it working here:
hidden link
and
hidden link

note the different date format for the field.

To use it, I added a shortcode in the page and translate it:

[acf_event_dates posts_per_page="10"]

You can check it in the test site using the WP File Manager plugin:
hidden link

Best regards,
Otto