If you're experiencing issues where translated attributes are not automatically adding a language-specific extension to the slug (like -en or -fr) when the attribute name is the same across languages, this might be due to a misunderstanding of WPML's functionality.

We recommend checking the WPML 4.8 changelog at <a href=\'https://wpml.org/download/wpml-multilingual-cms/?section=changelog\'>WPML 4.8 Changelog</a> which clarifies that WPML now allows the use of the same term slug in different languages. This means that you should not encounter issues with URLs on the frontend as the language prefix is automatically added. For more details on this update, you can also refer to the errata page at <a href=\'https://wpml.org/errata/translated-term-slug-identical-to-the-original-term-slug/\'>Translated Term Slug Identical to the Original Term Slug</a>. If this solution does not apply to your case, or if it seems outdated, we highly recommend checking related known issues at <a href=\'https://wpml.org/known-issues/\'>https://wpml.org/known-issues/</a>, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If issues persist, please <a href=\'https://wpml.org/forums/forum/english-support/\'>open a new support ticket</a>.

The language prefix is not added to attributes translated with the same term

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This topic is split from https://wpml.org/forums/topic/wpml-ai-translation-for-ecommerce-shop/

Tagged: Known issue

This topic contains 3 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by michaelG-25 4 weeks, 1 day ago.

Assisted by: Otto.

Author	Posts
September 3, 2025 at 9:25 pm #17372629
michaelG-25	Hello Otto thanks for your response, we are trying to review what is causing the issue with our theme, we may need your help with that still. Another issue we noticed is, that when we translate the attributes, they are not automatically adding a -en/-fr to the slug, when the attribute name is the same in all languages. On other installations, it automatically would add the language extension for all of them other than the default language. Why is it not working automatically? We have lots of attributes and going through them one by one and manually adding the extension would take hours... Thanks
September 3, 2025 at 9:46 pm #17372711
Otto WPML Supporter since 09/2015 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) Timezone: America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires (GMT-03:00)	Hello, Not being allowed to use the same slug for the same term in different language was considered a problem: https://wpml.org/errata/translated-term-slug-identical-to-the-original-term-slug/ This problem was fixed in WPML 4.8, check the changelog here: https://wpml.org/download/wpml-multilingual-cms/?section=changelog It is now allowed to have the same term slug in different languages. Why is this a problem for your use case? You should not have any issue with the URL's in the front end as the prefix is added to them. Best Regards, Otto
September 4, 2025 at 3:16 am #17372979
michaelG-25	Hi Otto The issue that is arising is that the Permalinks for the attributes (which we have hundreds of) are not changing automatically. See this example, where in the English version the -en should have been added as the slug is the same in all three languages. With other projects this would happen automatically - and we really don't want to do this manually.... thanks Makoto
September 4, 2025 at 12:37 pm #17375592
Otto WPML Supporter since 09/2015 Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) Timezone: America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires (GMT-03:00)	Hello Makoto, Yes, and that's expected, WPML now allows for the same slug for the same term in different languages. This was a long-standing and popular requested feature that came out in WPML 4.8. Can you please elaborate in the undesired consequences you are facing? Why do you need to add the prefix? It should work without it. Best Regards, Otto
September 8, 2025 at 9:36 pm #17385073
michaelG-25	Thank you for elaborating on this topic, this works for us!