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How To Work As A Reviewer on WPML Sites

Agnes Bury
Updated
September 19, 2023

WPML allows translators to review and update content that was automatically translated using machine translations. Reviewers can instantly accept the content or make edits to the translations before approving it.

This article is written for translators that want to work with site owners as reviewers. If you’re a site owner, check out our documentation on how to review automatic translations on your site.

WPML allows site owners to translate their content automatically using Google Translate, DeepL, or Microsoft Translator. This allows them to generate quick and convenient translations, but it’s important that they review these translations to make sure they make sense and flow naturally.

That’s where you come in! Site owners can create WordPress accounts for translators like you to review these translations and make any necessary edits.

Page opened in the review mode

On This Page:

Logging into a WordPress Site With Your Translator Account

Before you can review content on a WPML site, the site owner first needs to create a translator account with relevant language pairs assigned. 

Having the correct language pairs assigned is important because you will only see available review jobs that match those language pairs. For example, if you review content translated from English to German, your translator account needs to include this pair of languages. 

Once the site owner creates your account, you will receive an email with your login details. Click the first link to set your password.

Email you get after your WordPress account is ready

Then, log into the site using your email address or the username from your email and the password you have just set up.

After logging in, you will see your user profile. If you would like to, you can change the language of your site’s backend.

How to change the language of your WordPress backend

Finding Translation Jobs That Are Waiting For Your Review 

Log into the site, and go to WPML → Translations menu in the left-hand sidebar. 

Where you can find jobs awaiting review

Jobs awaiting review have the Pending review status.

If your queue is empty and you’ve been expecting to see some jobs for review, please check with the site’s owner if your translator account has the relevant language pairs assigned.

Reviewing Translation Jobs

On the Translations page, click the Review button to open the first translation job.

Button to start reviewing a translation job

This opens the entire translated page as it will appear on the site’s front-end, including the header and footer.

Page opened in the review mode

What you need to review are the page title and the page body, as marked in the following image:

The part of the WordPress page that needs your review

You can ignore the other parts of the page such as the site title, navigation, texts in the footer and the sidebar, etc. – they are not part of the review process and cannot be edited by you.

Across the top of the screen, you can find the buttons to Accept or Publish this translation, Edit Translation, or go Back.

Review options
  • Back – This takes you back to the Translation queue and keeps the current translation job in the queue to review later.
  • Edit Translation – If you’re not fully satisfied with the translation, this opens WPML’s Advanced Translation Editor for you to edit the page title or content.
  • Publish this translation or Accept this translation – If you are satisfied with the translation, this option approves it, the post gets published and the job status changes to Complete. If there are other jobs awaiting review, you will see the next job on your screen.

Editing Translations in WPML’s Advanced Translation Editor

When you click Edit Translation, the job opens in the Advanced Translation Editor, where you can edit the translation and apply manual fixes.

WPML’s Advanced Translation Editor

The content of your page is split into sentences, one per line. This makes editing very convenient and also helps to track all the translated text in the translation memory across the whole site.

How to Edit a Translation

To edit a sentence’s translation, click on the sentence, and make your changes in the editing box on the right-hand side of the screen. Then, click the green checkbox to save and complete your translation.

Editing a translation

You’ll know your edits are saved when the line next to the sentence changes color from blue to green. Blue indicates automatic translations, and green indicates manually edited translations.

Updated translations that have been saved correctly are marked with green lines

You can also save a translation as a draft by clicking on the diskette icon. This allows you to quickly proceed with the review and get back to tricky sentences later. Sentences that have been saved as a draft appear with yellow lines.

Draft sentences are marked with yellow line

Saving the Translation Edits

Once you have finished your edits and marked all edited sentences as completed, you are ready to leave the editor.

Take a final look at your edits.

Remember: 

  • Blue lines – sentences with machine translations
  • Green lines – completed sentences with manual edits
  • Yellow lines – draft sentences with manual edits. You cannot leave the editor with draft sentences left.

When everything looks right, click on the Complete button.

How to close the translation editor

Completing the job takes you back to the front-end review screen where you can view your edits and Publish or Accept your translation.

Other Advanced Translation Editor Features

You can use the search tool to quickly look up any sentences on the page that contain a specific keyword. Please note that it only lets you search in the site’s default language, not the translation language.

Search tool in the Advanced Translation Editor

This helps you track down sentences with words that can be tricky to translate. For example, if you notice that the automatic translation of a certain word isn’t translated in the correct context, you can pull up each instance of that word on the page to make sure you correct them all.

The Advanced Translation Editor also includes several more features to make editing translations easier and more efficient.

  • HTML markers
  • Glossary
  • Spell checker
  • Translation memory

You can read more about these in the Advanced Translation Editor documentation.

Translating Jobs From Scratch

In addition to reviewing translation jobs, your WordPress login allows you to translate jobs from scratch. You can use the automatic translation feature to speed up the translation process.

When a new translation job is assigned to you, you will receive an email notification.

Email informing your that you have new translation jobs

Click the Start translating link in the email, or log into the site and go to your Translations queue. 

Clicking the Translate button to start translating a job

To translate a job:

  1. Click on the Translate button.
  2. The job will open in the WPML’s Advanced Translation Editor.
  3. You will see a popup offering to translate the job automatically. We recommend using automatic translation because it speeds up your work, and you can always make edits to the translations if needed.
Using automatic translation within the Advanced Translation Editor
  1. Add your translations or edit the automatic translations.
Translating a job in WPML’s Advanced Translation Editor
  1. Click the green checkbox to save each sentence.
  2. Click Complete to save and publish the completed translation job.