I am reaching out regarding the translation bug I mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, the issue still occurs and the workaround you suggested does not always work reliably.
Problem
In WPML Advanced Translation Editor, the translation job shows 100% completed, but on the frontend the content still appears in the original language (German) instead of the translated language (English).
Interestingly, some elements translate correctly (e.g., buttons) while other text elements remain in German.
Environment
• WordPress Multisite
• Two languages: German (default) and English
• WPML Advanced Translation Editor
• Page built with rows/elements (see screenshots)
• Plugins we use (SEOPress, ACF, Wordfence, Shortpixel, WP Offload Media)
What Happens
1. The page is created in German (default language).
2. The English translation is fully completed (100%) in Advanced Translation Editor.
3. When visiting the English frontend page, most content still appears in German.
4. Only some elements (like buttons) appear translated.
Workaround (Not Reliable)
The only workaround that sometimes fixes the issue is:
1. Edit the German original page
2. Make a small change (e.g. add a word)
3. Save the page
4. Open the English translation again
5. Update and complete the translation job
After doing this, WPML sometimes re-detects the translation fields and the frontend translation starts working.
However:
• This does not always work
• It is very tedious for editors
• It is hard to explain to translators
In one case I even had to temporarily change text inside an element to force WPML to detect the translation fields again.
Possible Cause
During a previous support call we discovered that the issue might be related to renaming row elements or content elements in the backend editor.
It seems that when row names or element identifiers change, the translation configuration becomes inconsistent, which causes WPML to not correctly map the translated content.
Questions
1. Is this a known WPML bug?
2. What exactly triggers this behavior?
3. Is there a recommended workflow we should communicate to our team and translators to prevent this?
4. Is there a more reliable fix than manually modifying the original page?
Additional Material
I recorded a short video showing the issue and the workaround behavior: hidden link
I also attached screenshots showing:
• the frontend displaying German content
• the Advanced Translation Editor showing 100% translated content
• the backend editor configuration
thanks for the response. Even if we update all "Saved for later" entries, we have the same issue. The bug occurs also in cases where nothing is "saved for later".
I'd like to request temporary access (wp-admin and FTP) to the website to investigate the issue further.
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The translation for this content is not completed. You need to complete the translation inside the WPML Translation Editor to 100%. There were not even English translations entered into the translated segments of the WPML Translation Editor.
As there was not much content to translate, I made an exception and completed the translation for you. Note that our support usually does not provide any free translations.
How do we test in such a case:
1) Edit the original content and save it again.
2) Update the translations inside the WPML Translation Editor to 100%.
3) Revise translation on Frontend
4) Edit and save the original content again
5) Revise translation on Frontend
6) Update the translation.
7) Revise translation on Frontend
I can not confirm any issue with this test.
Note that you should always avoid editing translations directly inside the WordPress Editor, unless you have set the WordPress Editor as the translation method for this content.
The translation method can be set for each content individually. Its settings can be found in the right sidebar of the WordPress Editor while editing the original content.
i did finished all the content for this page as you can see in the screenshot. If you changed something in the backend editor before going again to the advanced translation editor you "fixed" it with the workaround. The workaround solves it, because after changing something again in the content that did get not shpow correctly even it was translated correctly, gets recoginized after that and then it works
So I have to find another site where the bug is visible. It is 100% not working. On the live system I have severall cases per week with exact this problem.
I will try to find another site with the bug and record a video to explain and show it correctly
Sometimes it might happen that you have a translation in progress, and at the same time you update the original content. This can cause such unexpected issues. WPML shows a Warning on the WordPress Editor if this is the case.
The translation gets completed, but in the meantime, the original content has changed, so you need to edit the original content again, so that WPML can properly update the translation status.
alright I will test this again. It seems that I am not able to reproduce the bug at the moment on Staging. I will ask my developer if I can give you access to our live system - There we have plenty of examples
Sure, please use the private reply form to provide access. Please also name me the exact examples, but I would also appricate if you could first verify if my suggested workflow solves the issue.
This said, it is a known limitation that jobs can get stuck, and this happens if original content was updated while a translation was in progress.
