Home›Support›English Support›[Resolved] We need to translate our e-commerce website into several other languages, but since it’s quite lar...
[Resolved] We need to translate our e-commerce website into several other languages, but since it’s quite lar...
This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.
Problem: The client needs a comprehensive guide on translating taxonomies and WooCommerce pages using WPML, especially when automatic translation does not meet their specific needs. They encountered issues where taxonomies were not automatically translated when translating products, leading to incorrect category assignments.
Solution: 1. Taxonomies will be translated automatically along with the posts or products they are assigned to. If you're experiencing different results, we recommend checking your site's settings and providing us with WPML debugging information. More information here: https://wpml.org/de/faq/provide-debug-information-faster-support/
2. For WooCommerce pages, replace any WooCommerce Blocks on the Cart or Checkout page with WooCommerce Shortcodes, as we currently cannot translate new blocks. You can find more about WooCommerce Page Shortcodes here: https://woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-shortcodes/page-shortcodes/ Strings from these pages can then be translated using WPML > String Translation.
3. Attributes are translated automatically with the product they are assigned to. To translate all global attributes in one job, create a product, assign all available attributes to it, and send the product for automatic translation.
4. If a taxonomy is already translated, it will be synced when translating the post. You can also sync taxonomies at WPML > Taxonomy Translation if WPML recognizes that taxonomies are missing on translated posts.
If the solution provided here does not resolve your issue or seems outdated, we highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have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 further assistance is needed, please open a new support ticket at WPML support forum.
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Background of the issue:
We need to translate our e-commerce website into several other languages, but since it’s quite large and complex, we’ll need to proceed step by step. A “translate everything automatically” solution isn’t entirely suitable. We will definitely use WPML AI, but with caution, because given the specific context we operate in, we need to carefully review everything before it goes live.
With that in mind, and not understanding how to automatically translate taxonomies using WPML AI, we started by translating three individual products—assuming that the taxonomies involved would be translated automatically. However, that didn’t happen, and now the product has been poorly translated. So, there go the first credits already wasted.
What I’m asking for is a complete, step-by-step guide on how to proceed. Should we start by manually translating the taxonomies? Or is it possible to translate them using WPML, including the terms we’ve added to the Glossary?
After that, what comes next? Do we need to translate WooCommerce’s standard pages? If so, where exactly?
This is what I’m looking for: a comprehensive guide on what to do, step by step, so we can proceed in the way WPML expects and avoid making a mess or wasting the credits we purchased from your site.
You can understand that, otherwise, we might as well go back to using our old method of external translations, just to avoid wasting credit.
When it comes to WooCommerce pages, then we currently recommend replacing any WooCommerce Blocks on the Cart or Checkout page with WooCommerce Shortcodes.
The strings from Cart and Checkout will then be translatable with WPML > String Translation. You can further translate those strings automatically at WPML > Translation Management > Dashboard > Other texts.
Thank you, but I must kindly point out that while you did respond, you didn’t really answer my question. Perhaps I brought up too many topics at once. Let’s take a step back.
To begin with, let me clarify that we’re not using blocks—only the classic WordPress mode. So everything is fully compatible.
With that in mind, can you tell me how I can translate taxonomies automatically?
At the moment, we’re translating attributes manually, but we’d like to automate the process for some of them.
When we try to do this from the Translation page, the tool actually works as a filter. It doesn’t allow us to translate product attributes—only the products themselves.
What we’d like to do instead is translate all the taxonomies first, so we can carefully review them and make sure the translation is accurate, and only then move on to translating the products.
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
Hello,
Also the attributes are translated automatically directly with the product that they are assigned on.
This is the only way to translate attributes, categories or tags automatically.
If you wish to translate all global attributes in one job, you will need to create a product, assign all available attributes to it and send the product to be translated automatically.
Thanks for the workaround, but honestly, from WPML—as a professional translation plugin—I expected something a bit more refined.
In any case, the “Translate Everything Automatically” feature turned out to be a bit disappointing for us. The actual translations provided by WPML AI were good, but there were issues with the automatic assignment of categories.
For example, we translated three products automatically as a test, but the category wasn’t translated and a default one was assigned instead.
We assume this happened because WPML, while trying to translate the page, didn’t find a translated version of the category and didn’t know what to do with it.
So our takeaway is that there’s still quite a bit of work to be done when it comes to WPML managing translation priorities correctly.
That’s why we’re now translating all taxonomies manually. Still, we were hoping to be able to translate attributes directly from the “Translations” panel.
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
The workflow is:
Any taxonomy, that is assigned to a post will be translated together with this post inside the WPML Translation Editor, if the taxonomy has not yet been translated.
It would not make sense to translate all taxonomies upfront, as taxonomy archive pages and filers will not operate unless there are existing translated posts that are assigned to those translated taxonomies.
If the taxonomy is already translated, it will be synced when translating the post.
You will further find an option to sync taxonomies at WPML > Taxonomy Translation in case WPML recognizes that taxonomies are missing on translated posts.
In case you experience a different behavior and you can still replicate this issue currently on the site, I would like to offer to take a closer look into it.
Let’s just say we’ve got a much clearer picture of how the fully automatic translation works—when we can use it with confidence, and when there are certain risks we need to watch out for.
