Translations giving 404 error when switching languages

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

Problem:
You are experiencing an issue with translated WooCommerce product category archives on a multisite installation. Specifically, clicking "View category" from the translated category edit screen results in a 404 error. This problem occurs despite the categories being properly linked and existing in WPML.
Solution:
We recommend you try the following steps:
1. Temporarily disable all plugins except WPML, WooCommerce Multilingual (WCML), and WooCommerce to identify any potential plugin conflicts.
2. If it exists, navigate to WPML → String Translation, search for the product-category slug, and remove its translation.
3. Go to Settings → Permalinks and click 'Save Changes' to resave the permalinks.
After completing these steps, please check if the issue persists.

If this solution does not resolve your issue or seems outdated, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have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 continues, please open a new support ticket at WPML support forum for further assistance.

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Tagged: Exception, WCML

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Last updated by Andrey 2 weeks, 3 days ago.

Assisted by: Andrey.

Author	Posts
March 30, 2026 at 9:26 pm #17937975
brandonA-2	We are experiencing an issue with translated WooCommerce product category archives on a multisite installation. Setup: WordPress multisite WooCommerce WPML (language via query string parameter) WooCommerce Multilingual Issue: English product category archives work correctly Translated categories exist and are properly linked in WPML However, clicking "View category" from the translated category edit screen results in a 404 Example: English: hidden link Spanish (generated by WPML): hidden link → This URL returns a 404 NOTE: This is a staging copy of the site for troubleshooting the issue. Additional behavior: Some languages 404 Others redirect to a translated product instead of the category Changing slugs, category base, and permalinks had no effect WPML troubleshooting tools have been run Issue persists with default theme and minimal plugins Conclusion: It appears WPML is generating the correct translated taxonomy URL, but WordPress is not resolving the translated product_cat term archive. Can you help determine whether this is a known issue with taxonomy translation, query-string language mode, or term_taxonomy linkage? Happy to provide database dumps or site admin access if needed.
April 1, 2026 at 2:10 pm #17943583
Andrey WPML Supporter since 06/2013 Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский ) Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+03:00)	Thank you for contacting WPML support. Could you please try the following steps? 1. Temporarily disable all plugins except WPML, WooCommerce Multilingual (WCML), and WooCommerce, and check if the issue still occurs. This will help identify any potential plugin conflicts. 2. If it exists, go to WPML → String Translation, search for the product-category slug, and remove its translation. 3. Then go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to resave the permalinks. After that, please check if the issue persists and let me know the results.