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

Problem:

The client is experiencing display issues on their website when translating pages into Kurdish and Urdu using WPML. These languages, which use right-to-left (RTL) scripts, show the pages as scrambled and mostly white.

Solution:

We recommend verifying if the theme used on the site fully supports RTL languages. This involves more than just text direction; it also includes layout adjustments, icons, and animations. Here are the steps to diagnose and potentially resolve the issue:

1. Ensure you have a full site backup before making changes.
2. Add another RTL language, such as Arabic or Hebrew, to see if similar display issues occur.
3. Temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four or Twenty Twenty-Five to check if the problem persists.

For more detailed guidance, please refer to our documentation on RTL support:

If these steps do not resolve the issue or if the solution seems outdated or irrelevant to your specific case, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the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 problems persist, please open a new support ticket.

This is the technical support forum for WPML - the multilingual WordPress plugin.

Everyone can read, but only WPML clients can post here. WPML team is replying on the forum 6 days per week, 22 hours per day.

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This topic contains 4 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by alexP-63 1 day, 18 hours ago.

Assisted by: Bigul.

Author Posts
July 8, 2025 at 3:16 pm #17215137

alexP-63

Background of the issue:
I am trying to translate a page into multiple languages using WPML on my site hidden link.

Symptoms:
The page displays fine in some languages, but in Kurdish and Urdu, it appears scrambled with mostly a white screen.

Questions:
Why are the Kurdish and Urdu translations displaying incorrectly?
How can I fix the display issue for these languages?

July 9, 2025 at 6:29 am #17216965

Bigul
WPML Supporter since 01/2013

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Europe/Vienna (GMT+02:00)

Hello,

Please share the WordPress debug.log (not the WPML debug information) with us so we can gather more details on this issue. Refer to the following links for instructions

https://wpml.org/documentation/support/debugging-wpml/

https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/debugging-in-wordpress/

To enable the WordPress Debug log, open your wp-config.php file of site root and look for define('WP_DEBUG', false);. Change it to:

// Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
 
// Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
 
// Disable display of errors and warnings 
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
@ini_set( 'display_errors', 0 );

In this case, the errors will be saved to a debug.log log file inside the */wp-content/* directory. Please follow the steps to reproduce the bug and check if you receive any errors or warnings related to WPML in the log file.

If you can paste your debug.log to http://pastebin.com/index.php and provide me with that link, it would be great! (This is the cleanest way because sometimes the logs are long and create a complete mess of discussion).

Also, please share the exact steps to reproduce the issue on your site.

--
Thanks!

Bigul

July 18, 2025 at 1:37 pm #17250544

alexP-63

I Bigul, I have followed your steps but don't see any errors in the deug.log in wp-content.

To recreate the problem:

The default language and many of the other languages load fine:
hidden link

Bur Kurdish and Urdu loads very scrambled. I am thinking maybe its to do with the Characters in those languages?

hidden link
hidden link

July 18, 2025 at 4:46 pm #17251504

Bigul
WPML Supporter since 01/2013

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Europe/Vienna (GMT+02:00)

Hello,

Thank you for the updates. This issue may be occurring because your theme does not fully support RTL (Right-to-Left) languages. Please note that RTL support is not just about changing text direction. It also affects the layout, icons, and animations for languages like Arabic and Hebrew.

Therefore to verify this, please try the following after taking a full site backup:

- Add a language like Arabic or Hebrew using WPML, and check if there is any change in how the site displays.

- Alternatively, temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four or Twenty Twenty-Five, and see if the issue persists.

Let us know the test results so we can assist you further. You can find more details in the following documentation:

https://wpml.org/faq/does-wpml-have-rtl-support-right-to-left/

https://wpml.org/es/tutorials/2011/06/creating-right-to-left-rtl-wordpress-sites/

--
Thanks!

Bigul

July 21, 2025 at 10:11 am #17254778

alexP-63

Hi Bigul, thanks for getting back to me. I added Hebrew and then noticed it was not loading our theme.css but instead theme-rtl.css so it was related to the right to left languages. I think that should solve our problem for now thank you.