I need help about the process to add an other language to my website
Let's say I use 5 languages.
For most of the pages, I started translating with the Classic Translation Editor / side to side (the recommended editor at that time), before translating that page independently in these languages, to make more specific adjustments.
Today I want to add another language, which I would first work as a hidden language, until everything's ready
I'm OK to move to the Advanced Translation Editor, but I don't think it changes anything to what I'm concern with.
So I'd like to go through the same process: first, decline the page through the Advanced Editor, before adjusting it more specifically through independant translation.
My question is... Since a page has already the Translate independently setting in place (edit with WordPress editor), is there a way for me to start editing it through the Advanced Translation Editor, without getting all its translations, in the 4 other languages, back to what they were in the Classic Translation Editor, before I made them closer to what I wanted, through the independant translation?
You can specify for individual posts and pages whether to use the WordPress editor to edit translations or whether to use a WPML translation editor, but you can't mix and match which translation editor to use.
The settings are global, you choose either ATE or CTE for translating new content. (You can switch to ATE for new content, but continue to edit existing translations with CTE.)
That's the general position.
Considering your specific case:
you have translated content with CTE, then disabled the WPML translation editor for individual posts which you then tweak by editing the translations directly using the WordPress editor.
You can't re-open this translated content in a translation editor, because you would lose the tweaks you have made.
And if you were to open the content in ATE you would lose the translations altogether (because of they way ATE further segments content it—currently—doesn't understand the translations made previously, which is why the setting to continue using CTE for existing translations is set by default).
So, it seems to me that you should be able to update your settings to use ATE for new translations (Translate what you choose mode, you don't want to trigger automatic translations), and add your new language.
Then edit some content that you already tweaked previously. Switch the translation editor to the WPML editor (which will be ATE). Click to add a translation to the new language, and make and accept that translation in ATE. Then, on the post edit screen, revert the setting to use the WordPress editor for translating this post. You should then be able to edit the new translation in the WordPress editor and make your tweaks.
Before you try that, MAKE A BACKUP. Then try on a single post and verify that the workflow works as intended, before going on to try the same with more content.
OK, Thanks a lot for these details. Even if that's bad news: translate a page in a new language obviously can't be a smooth process, as soon as that page has already been translated individually, in at least one language. For those, I have no other choice that translating it in the new language individually, right?
By the way, just to be sure I understand what you mean regarding CTE/ATE. You say it's not possible to translate content that's been translated via CTE, by ATE? Said differently, if I set the default translator as ATE (when it used to be CTE), I will break the content that's been previously translated with CTE?
I ask because I think I did it on a test environment, and that I didn't noticed any issue ont the content I tried to update.
Sorry, I know that's lots of questions, but I need to understand what I can do or not.
>I have no other choice than translating it in the new language individually, right?
This is only the case because you previously translated a post in some languages and then tweaked the translated post. What you want to avoid is having those tweaks over-written. Thinking more about it, this *should* only happen if you edit the original post again. Then the existing translations will be marked as needing an update. If you set automatic translation then those existing translations would be updated, and your tweaks over-written.
Note that the translation editor settings allow you to specify ATE for new translations and to continue using CTE for existing content already translated with CTE.
That setting is recommended, because you will lose existing translations if you translate content previously translated outside of ATE with ATE.
ATE splits content up into smaller segments than when using CTE or an external translation service, and the challenge for retaining the existing translations is mapping the known segmentation of the source content with the unknown segmentation of the translated content. It's currently not possible, but we are working on it.
