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Supporter timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+01:00)

This topic contains 5 replies, has 1 voice.

Last updated by Dražen 19 hours, 58 minutes ago.

Assisted by: Dražen.

Author Posts
March 13, 2025 at 9:08 am #16810616

Adela Ferenczik

Background of the issue:
I am working on a site under development where our customer wants to change the default language from EN_UK to EN_US. We plan to treat this as a translation project, gradually making the new language visible while keeping the old language visible for certain parts of the website.

Symptoms:
No specific issue or error message mentioned.

Questions:
Could you help us plan the best workflow for changing the default language from EN_UK to EN_US?
What are the possibilities and limitations we might encounter during this phased language transition?

March 14, 2025 at 8:01 am #16814881

Andreas W.
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch )

Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)

Hello,

You can go to WPML > Languages > Edit language and set the default locale for English.

By default, in WordPress, this locale is set to EN_US which means that it will download language files using this language preference.

You can further upload a custom flag for USA. You can find such a flag on the server inside the folder /wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/res/flags.

Guide:
https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/language-setup/language-switcher-options/custom-language-flags/

If your goal is to use a different language code (currently "en") then you will need to create a custom language.

Guide:
https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/language-setup/editing-wpmls-languages-table/

Best regards
Andreas

March 17, 2025 at 8:05 am #16823275

Adela Ferenczik

Hi Andreas,

Thank you for the information. However, this isn't exactly what our issue is.

Our query is more about the best workflow for a revision task to avoid issues.

Our customer has their website in EN (British) and they need us to revise and adapt their content for EN_US. What we want to be able to do is work on their texts, and then for them to be able to make the 'new language' visible and hide the 'old language' because it is not the right variant. This is not to do with the language code, it is because the text genuinely needs to be adapted for a new audience.

However, this is a project that needs to be done in phases.

We want them to be able to send us the files for revision, us send them back, the customer make them visible as the default, but leave the other URL that have not been revised still visble on the website in the original default language.

We don't know if this is possible, or if you can suggest another, less complex way of carrying out this kind of revision task.

Many thanks!

March 18, 2025 at 10:48 am #16829358

Dražen
Supporter

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+01:00)

Hello,

thanks for getting back.

The best approach would be to create a new custom language, and set it as hidden from the front end. Then work on it and send each page/string for translation.

Once done, change the default language of the website, and hide other (old EN language).

- https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/language-setup/hiding-languages-on-the-front-end/
- https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/language-setup/editing-wpmls-languages-table/

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Drazen

March 20, 2025 at 9:05 am #16838816

Adela Ferenczik

Hi,

Thanks for the info, however, my query really is if there is any way that we can do this in phases and make the revised content the only ivisble content little by little or if we can only do this once it is all done, as would seem to be the case from your previous answer.
Many thanks!

March 20, 2025 at 9:43 am #16839103

Dražen
Supporter

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+01:00)

Hello,

thanks, I am afraid the only correct way I can think of for your case would be as advised above, with translating pages and hiding or not hiding languages, as you prefer.

Let me know if any other further questions.

Regards,
Drazen