Custom Post Type - Translate Tags and Categories

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

Problem:
The client needed to translate categories and tags for a custom post type called Case Studies on their WordPress site using WPML and BLEND's translation service. Initially, these taxonomies were not set to be translatable, and the client was unsure how to send them to BLEND without resending all the posts.
Solution:
To translate the taxonomies while sending them to a translation service, creating a new post, assigning all categories and tags to it, and then sending it to the translation service. This method allows the categories to be included in the translation when the post is processed. Generally, Taxonomies will be translated using the WPML > Taxonomy Translation option. After translating, you can go to WPML > Support > Troubleshooting and use the first option in the "Clean up" section to synchronize the post taxonomies.

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Tagged: Translation Service

This topic contains 4 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by jeremiahH 2 months, 2 weeks ago.

Assisted by: Andreas W..

Author	Posts
June 3, 2025 at 11:13 pm #17104204
jeremiahH	Background of the issue: I have a WordPress site at hidden link and use WPML along with BLEND's translation service to translate content into French Canadian. We have a custom post type called Case Studies that we recently received back from BLEND. Symptoms: We realized that we did not set the categories and tags for Case Studies to be translatable. We have now set it but not sure how to send the categories and tags to BLEND using Translation Management. Questions: How can we send the categories and tags for Case Studies for translation?
June 4, 2025 at 1:35 am #17104321
Andreas W. WPML Supporter since 12/2018 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)	Hello, You can sadly not send the taxonomies directly to the translation service. Those taxonomies will be translated together with the posts on which they are assigned, which means you would now need to send all the posts again to the service. As an alternative, you can translate the taxonomies at WPML > Taxonomy Translation. After they are all translated, go to WPML > Support > Troubleshooting and use the first option inside the section "Clean up" to synchronize the post taxonomies. Best regards Andreas
June 4, 2025 at 8:43 pm #17108143
jeremiahH	Would it make sense to create a new post, then add all categories and tags to this post and send to BLEND translation service? I don't want to have to send all the posts over again so I think this may be simpler. Our company would rather not manually translate, as we do not have anyone who can and we need it to go through the translation service.
June 4, 2025 at 9:08 pm #17108170
Andreas W. WPML Supporter since 12/2018 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)	Yes, this would make sense. If you assign all available categories to one post and send it to the service, the category should be available when translating the post. You can test this, by creating such a post and assigning it to yourself at WPML > Translation Management. Then go to WPML > Translation and download the XLIFF file which should include the title, content, and categories. Please give this a quick test before sending the post.
June 5, 2025 at 3:37 pm #17111032
jeremiahH	We do have a contact at BLEND that we can ask to check before they begin. I tried testing a post but it didn't allow me to translate categories/tags and I do not get an option to see a XLIFF file. I'm guessing it's because I'm the one translating it it does not give either options. I think also because WPML expects me to use Taxonomy translation tab for manual translation. So I think BLEND receives categories/tags with the post. Thank you!