This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.
Problem: The client reported issues with the WPML Advanced Translation Editor (ATE) when translating media. Specifically, the Alt Text field was duplicated, leading to unnecessary charges. The titles were identical to the alt texts. The client was concerned about being charged twice for the same sentence used in both the Alt Text and the title fields. Solution: We explained that the WPML ATE uses a translation memory that auto-completes identical segments across the website, which should prevent extra charges. However, this memory only starts saving segments after a translation job is completed. We acknowledged that, according to our reports, segments have been charged twice and compensation for the overcharge. We further invited the client to try replicating the issue on our sandbox site and offered further assistance if needed, but the issue was not replicable.
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Hello again, yet another trouble with translating media.
It did translate well, after I've made a dummy page with a dummy gallery just so it will translate the meta texts.
Then I translated it with the auto translation built in the advanced translation editor.
The dummy page link is: hidden link and its translation is in: hidden link
The issues are:
1. The Alt Text field is duplicated and of course charged for it. This is a certain overcharge.
2. I use the same text for the alt text and the title. Shouldn't it be stored in the memory and not charged twice for the same scentence?
So all in all I expect a bug fix, and a refund of at least a third or maybe two thirds of ALL the media translations I've made automatically.
For this one round the dummy page contains 214 words and was charged for 214*3*4 = 2,568 credits.
I've checked a few of my other dummy pages and have seen that it had the same issue, charging for total of about 39000 credits of which a third or two thirds are overcharged, so this is a signinficant issue.
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out!
The WPML Advanced Translation Editor contains an internal translation memory that will auto-complete any identical segments across all content of your website. This will not lead to extra charges.
It just might be the case that translation memory will only begin to save segments once a job has been completed.
It says: "It just might be the case that translation memory will only begin to save segments, once a job has been completed." Here, the translation was not yet completed and this is why translation memory was not auto-completing the entries.
The job in question is: hidden link
It used 2568 Credits while charging 4 credits per word using the PTC translation engine. After giving the jobs a quick review, it seems to be about more than 300 words that actually need a translation, while the entire word count is about 650 words.
This said, you should have been charged at least around 1200 credits for this job, and you have been charged more, as those identical segments have never been translated before. As I mentioned above, ATE will create the translation memory once the job is translated and those segments have never been translated before.
I have credited your account with 1500 credits as compensation for this job.
I also tried to locate other jobs with similar issues, but for example, on this one here, I can not confirm the issue about duplicated segments. You can see the job here: hidden link
Could you please name me more examples, and I will be glad to compensate you for the inconvenience.
Note: The current behavior on your site is how translation memory currently works, and if the Alt Text appears twice inside ATE, then this must be related to the Elementor widgets used on the page and not directly to WPML. I can offer to take a closer look at this, if you wish.
1. The page hidden link has 214 words in Hebrew in the media meta text (twice). You can count them by copying the pictures to notepad or to word by pasting text only.
2. I can't go in the link you've sent, it is expired.
3. The issue with the memory not remembering during its work - I consider a bug. But I can work around it by naming just the caption, translating, then copying to alt text which I do only for SEO so I won't get points off for unaccessible page.
4. The issue with WPML/Elementor is most definitely a bug and of course you should take a look and fix it. If needed I'll open a user but maybe you can recreate it in a sandbox.
5. Thanks for the reimbursement. These are the jobs with dummy pages translations that I've done:
174603170
174609221
174609754
174609953
174611284
174611699
174613354
174614269
174614555
174614609
174614668
174614863
174614918
174614986
174615292
174615440
174621012
174667786
6. Have I mentioned already how cumbersome and terrible is this method of translating media, instead of having it translated automatically?... :-/
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
Thank you for your message and the provided details!
About the estimate word count:
Thank you for the details. I just tried to simply count an estimate, but as I am not very familiar with the Hebrew language, I might have miscalculated. If the actual word count was 214 words, then you should have been charged 856 credits. According to our system, you were charged 2568, and I credited only 1500 credits to your account. Take note that I will take this into consideration when compensating you the next time.
About translation memory:
Indeed, I understand that the translation memory behavior could be considered as not optimal, but for the moment, this is how it is supposed to work. The translation memory entries will not be created before the job is completed, but there is a button in the bottom corner that allows you to save segments to translation memory before actually completing the job, and this usually should help in such cases.
About the translation jobs:
The links I had sent you should be accessible as long as you are logged in to your website.
I will be reviewing the mentioned translation jobs and then get back to you about it.
About alt texts in Elementor:
To investigate the issue with the duplicated Alt texts, I am offering a WPML test site with Elementor. Please try to replicate the issue here using the same Elementor widget:
One-Click-Login: hidden link
Please do not migrate your site over to this sandbox. I have already installed Elementor and uploaded some media files with metadata. I also tested with Elementor's Image and Basic Gallery widgets, but I can not confirm any issue. In my example page, the reason for duplicated segments can only be replicated if the image exists more than once on the content.
Which Elementor widget did you use? Or is this about Robo Gallery? If so, please add the plugin ot the sandbox for testing.
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
The provided job IDs relate to the following URLs, plus I added the used credits for the jobs for each URL, which can be found on your reports:
hidden link = 10348 hidden link = 1628 hidden link = 1876 hidden link = 96 hidden link = 2832 hidden link = 2980 hidden link = 2592 hidden link = 3144 hidden link = 3284 hidden link = 1780 hidden link = 120 hidden link = 3372 hidden link = 1328 hidden link = 1028 hidden link = 24
This said, it looks like you translated media library folders, and you were charged for those 36.432 credits. Now, from those credits, we could say that one-third was likely charged due to the alt text duplication issue, which is why I have credited the amount of 12.023 credits to your account now, which relates to a aproximate cost compensation between 7-8€.
Take kindly note again that this refund is an exception, as this issue can not be replicated on a sandbox that uses Elementor and WPML and is likely caused by how a third plugin is handling translations, which implies that this issue is likely not caused by a bug inside WPML or ATE.
I can confirm that various of those jobs display the duplicated Alt texts on ATE, and I would like to ask your cooperation in trying to replicate this issue on our sandbox, so that it can be avoided for future translations.
One-Click-Login: hidden link
If you need me to analyze what is causing the issue, I would be glad to take a look at your site, better yet, a staging site, or I could offer to take a local copy of your site for testing.
Note:
Usually, if you handle the translation yourself and let's say you complete one segment by yourself or with automatic translation per segment, other segments using the same text will be auto-completed on ATE. There should not be any additional charge. This might behave differently if the entire content is sent to automatic translation.
I can't replicate the issue in the sandbox.
Note that I don't think it has to do with Elementor or Robo Gallery since it wan't Elementor but a plain WordPress page with plain WordPress gallery.
If you want you can take a copy of my site and try to fix the bug on your side without changing my site.
