In Taxonomy Translation, the non-English letter gets replaced with named character reference

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

Problem:
You are trying to translate a taxonomy (attribute) on your site and encountering an issue where non-English characters, such as 'š', get replaced with named character references in the Taxonomy Translation.
Solution:
We are aware of this issue and plan to address it in future releases. Meanwhile, we recommend trying the workaround suggested in this forum post. Please ensure you back up your database before making any changes. If this issue does not affect the frontend of your site, meaning your visitors are not experiencing any problems, it might be acceptable to leave things as they are and avoid making code changes for now.

Please note that the solution might be outdated or not applicable to your case. We highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the issue persists, please open a new support ticket at WPML support forum.

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Tagged: Bug

This topic contains 3 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by Andrey 4 days, 5 hours ago.

Assisted by: Andrey.

Author	Posts
July 6, 2025 at 7:31 pm #17205461
dmitrijsH	Background of the issue: I am trying to translate a taxonomy (attribute) on my site hidden link using WPML. Symptoms: In Taxonomy Translation, the non-English letter gets replaced with named character reference. Questions: When translating an attribute, š gets replaces with š I do not find it good. Could you please see the attached screenshot and let me know whether I can avoid it.
July 8, 2025 at 2:00 pm #17214399
Andrey WPML Supporter since 06/2013 Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский ) Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+03:00)	Thank you for contacting WPML support. Our development team is aware of this issue and plans to address it in future releases. In the meantime, could you please try the workaround suggested here and see if it helps resolve the problem? https://wpml.org/forums/topic/special-characters-encoding/#post-14512613 Before making any changes, please ensure you back up your database.
July 8, 2025 at 10:24 pm #17216264
dmitrijsH	Hello, Thank you for your reply. The previous ticket was created 2 years ago. And it is very unfortunate to add a workaround which will be wiped off with the next update. Could you please let me know whether it is safe not to do anything. Are there any disadvantages linked to the current situation? Is the translation stored safely? In the ticket, they also say that something does not work with PHP 8+. I will not be able to adapt the code. Kind regards,
July 9, 2025 at 9:51 am #17218120
Andrey WPML Supporter since 06/2013 Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский ) Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+03:00)	Thank you for your feedback. You’re correct — the original ticket was reported around two years ago. Until our development team addresses this case and implements a permanent fix, the workaround will need to be reapplied after each new release. Unfortunately, I don’t have a confirmed timeline for when this fix will be included. If this issue doesn’t affect the frontend of your site — meaning your visitors are not experiencing any problems — it’s perfectly acceptable to leave things as they are and avoid making code changes for now.