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Last updated by Hstd Reklambyrå 1 month ago.

Assisted by: Bobby.

Author Posts
March 24, 2026 at 12:12 pm #17921735

Hstd Reklambyrå

Hi! I noticed that the language "Portuguese (Portugal)" becomes "pt-pt" in the url. After reading this thread (https://wpml.org/forums/topic/how-to-change-language-url-format-code/) I removed "Portuguese (Portugal)" and added a custom language instead, and selected "pt" as the language code.

Now I get the following error:
"WordPress cannot automatically download translations for the following languages:
Portuguese (current locale: pt) - suggested locale(s): pt_PT, pt_BR, pt_AO, pt_PT_ao90
To fix, open "Edit Languages" and set the "default locale" values as shown above."

I tried adding "pt_PT" as the default locale, but then get the error:
"The default locale already exists."

How do I solve this? Thanks!

March 24, 2026 at 7:06 pm #17923846

Bobby
WPML Supporter since 04/2015

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: America/Los_Angeles (GMT-07:00)

Hi there,

In order to solve the error "The default locale already exists." , please go to WPML->Languages->Edit languages -> find the original PT language and change it's default locale to something else then update.

Once you do this then you can now assign the default locale pt_PT to the new custom language you created and save.

Let me know your results, please.

NOTE: If you have removed the "old" language, you can temporarily enable it, change the locale, and then once done remove it again.

March 25, 2026 at 7:34 am #17924660

Hstd Reklambyrå

That worked perfectly, thanks!