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[Resolved] Product/item has been translated from the wrong language to another language

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

Problem:
The client has an issue where products that should be updated from English to Dutch are showing German content in the WPML editor, and the editor indicates that the default language is German. This is incorrect as the default language should be English. The client suspects that translations were added incorrectly in the past (German to Dutch instead of English to Dutch), causing issues with updates. Attempts to unlink the Dutch translation and relink it to the English product resulted in the default language reverting to German again. Additionally, switching from the classic editor to the advanced editor caused loss of already translated content.

Solution:
We explained that currently, it is not possible to lock a language to only allow translations from English to other languages. Translations can be made from any language to any other language. Since the content was translated from a different source language, once unlinked and re-translated, it is impossible to map those translations to different source languages. Therefore, the solution is to manually add all those translations in the Advanced Translation Editor.
Please note that this solution might be irrelevant due to being outdated or not applicable to your case. If this is the 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 you still need assistance, please open a new support ticket: https://wpml.org/forums/forum/english-support/.

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This topic contains 5 replies, has 3 voices.

Last updated by Shekhar Bhandari 1 year, 7 months ago.

Assisted by: Shekhar Bhandari.

Author Posts
April 19, 2024 at 10:49 am #15543029

leonK-7

Our main language is English.
We have some products when we want to update it from English to another language like Dutch, that there is GERMAN content in the wpml editor and the editor indicates that the default lang is German.

That is not correct, we should have everything from the default lang English. Otherwise we cannot update properly from english to other languages.

We suspect that this was once added by our client incorrectly (instead of English translated to > NL, the translated from German to > NL.
Because of this it does not run well.

We have tried to unlink the translation in the NL product for example, and then link it to the english product but even then it seems to think the default lang is german again.

This happens with several products on our website (not all because some are added correctly).

How can we fix this? It is very important that we get this right.
April 19, 2024 at 12:20 pm #15543548

Waqas Bin Hasan
WPML Supporter since 05/2014

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Asia/Karachi (GMT+05:00)

Hi,

Thank you for contacting the support.

Meanwhile this ticket is attended by one of my colleagues, I'll recommend trying the following:

IMPORTANT: Take full backup of your website and database beforehand.

- Update WPML plugins to the latest versions.
- Then clear caches.
- And check again.

If that doesn't help, then please instead of unlinking the translation, try deleting the translation and translate again. See https://wpml.org/faq/how-to-delete-the-translation-of-a-page/ for details.

Please let us know your findings and we'll try our best to help you further on the matter.

Regards.
April 22, 2024 at 8:37 am #15548705

leonK-7

Hello,

Thank you for the reply.
Unfortunately it doesn't work.
Is there any other option? It's a lot of work to unlink all translations and re-post them.
April 23, 2024 at 4:59 am #15553452

Shekhar Bhandari
WPML Supporter since 03/2015

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Asia/Kathmandu (GMT+05:45)

Hello there,

Is it possible to lock a language which you can add a translation from? e.g.: I only want to make it possible to translate from EN > to other languages. And disable the whole option to translate from another language than the main (English).

Right now, we can't do that. Translations can be from any language to any other language.

Also, the content was translated from a different source language, so once you unlink and re-translate, it's impossible to map those translations to different source languages. So, the only way now is to manually add all those translations in the Advanced Translation Editor.

I have created a video showing how you can do it too without deleting existing pages: hidden link

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks
April 23, 2024 at 7:27 am #15553838

leonK-7

Thanks for making the video!

However, we tried this by un-linking the page translated via the wrong language from the translation and re-add it via the main language. The moment we do this, the product changes from the classic editor to the advanced editor, and in the advanced editor they then do not find all the already translated content. As a result, we have to link all of this again.

Is there anything we can do about this?
April 23, 2024 at 9:09 am #15554535

Shekhar Bhandari
WPML Supporter since 03/2015

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Asia/Kathmandu (GMT+05:45)

Hello there,

At the moment, you have to add the translations manually, we can import the existing translations as the source language are different.

Thanks