This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.
Problem: You are using WPML and trying to enable the automatic translation option, but encounter an issue with mapping the default language, English, to a supported language. The error message indicates that English must be mapped to a supported language to use automatic translation, and the 'map the language' button does not provide a column to map the language.
Solution: We recommend the following steps to resolve this issue: 1. Deactivate all plugins except WPML and String Translation. 2. Switch to the Classic Translation Editor in WPML -> Settings -> Translation Editor and save the settings. 3. Switch back to the Advanced Translation Editor and save the settings again. 4. In WPML -> Translation Management Dashboard, enable 'Translate Everything Automatically' and select to translate only future content and to publish without review temporarily. 5. These steps should refresh the database entries and settings for WPML, allowing the language mapping column to appear correctly in WPML -> Languages -> Edit Languages. 6. After verifying that everything is working correctly, turn off automatic translation (if needed), reactivate all your plugins, and switch back to your original theme.
If this solution does not resolve your issue or seems outdated, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have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 problem persists, please open a new support ticket at WPML support forum for further assistance.
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Background of the issue:
I am using WPML and trying to enable the automatic translation option for a new client. However, I encountered an issue with mapping the default language, English, to a supported language. The error message says, 'Your default language, English, must be mapped to a supported language in order to use automatic translation.' I have never had issues with this before. When I click the button 'map the language', it doesn't provide a column to map the language. Here are the links to the screenshots: hidden link and hidden link. The issue can be seen on this page: hidden link
Symptoms:
I can't enable automatic translation. The error message says, 'Your default language, English, must be mapped to a supported language in order to use automatic translation.' Clicking 'map the language' doesn't provide a column to map the language.
Questions:
Can you log into my website and find out where the problem is?
This looks like either a conflict or an incomplete plugin update. Can you please try the following before proceeding further?
IMPORTANT: Please take full backup of your website and database beforehand.
It is highly advised to try this on a staging/dev site first, so your live website isn't compromised.
- Deactivate WPML plugins.
- Delete the plugins from Plugins page.
- Download manually from https://wpml.org/account/downloads/ (click "Download WPML manually" on this page to expand the list of plugins).
- Install plugin by uploading via Plugins -> Add New -> Upload.
- Activate.
And then recheck in WPML -> Languages -> Edit Languages. Since English is the default language, you shouldn't need to map it to a language by default. However, even in this case, there should be now the option to map it accordingly.
If the above mentioned doesn't work, then please try the following:
1) Take a full backup of your site and database before proceeding. It is highly advised to try these on a dev or staging site first, so your live site isn't compromised.
2) Deactivate all plugins except WPML and String Translation.
3) Switch to a standard theme like 2024 or 2021.
4) Check for the issue if it still happens.
5) Then start activating plugins one by one while keep checking for the issue. This way you 'll be able to pinpoint a conflict when & where it starts creating the problem.
6) If after activating all plugins you see that it still works fine, then switch to your theme and see if that's causing it.
Please let me know and I'll try my best to help you further on the matter.
The issue should be fixed now and you can map the languages, although these are already mapped correctly (see attached).
Looks like there was a hiccup after upgrading or during the installation, so I did the following steps to fix it:
- Deactivated all the plugins except WPML and String Translation.
- Installed and activated 2024 theme by WordPress.
---- These 2 steps, I believe are optional but I did these to ensure that nothing conflicts in the following steps. You can skip these in your Live site, however, in any case if you plan to do these, please take a full backup beforehand.
- In WPML -> Settings -> Translation Editor, switched to Classic Translation Editor and it saved the settings automatically.
- Then switched back to Advanced Translation Editor and this setting was saved as well.
- Then in WPML -> Translation Management Dashboard, enabled "Translate Everything Automatically" and selected to translate only the content in the future, as well as, to publish without review, temporarily.
- these last 3 steps refreshed the database entries and settings for WPML and after that I could see the language mapping column correctly in WPML -> Languages -> Edit Languages.
- I then turned off automatic translation from WPML -> Translation Management Dashboard, reactivated all your plugins and switched back to your theme. And everything is working fine now.
Thank you Waqas Bin Hasan, my issue is now finally resolved. I followed your instructions on my live site - switched to classic than back to advanced translation editor, and it just worked out all by itself.
Let me ask you... Is this a normal glitch that I need to take into account every time I install WPML on a new site? Or it is going to go away with the future plugin updates?
Glad that it worked. This may happen very rarely due to a conflict or broken process. You don't need to check for it in every installation. We're always improving on these rare/edge-cases too. If it happens so often for you, please feel free to report again in a new ticket, with reference to this one.
