Adding UK English as a language with a language code of 'uk'

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

Problem:
My problem now is that I want to add en-GB as a language. When I try to add English with a code of 'uk' I get an error that 'The Language code already exists.'. I assume this is because the database is pre-populated with Ukraine as a language. This is not unreasonable, but people in the UK often refer to the country as UK not GB, and even if I could change my folder for UK English to be GB it is pre-existing as UK, so this would cost me in SEO which I cannot accept.

Solution:
Deleting a language from WPML is not a good idea.
Instead, you can go to WPML → Languages → Site Languages, press the Add / Remove languages, add the Ukraininan language, then press the Edit Languages link. This way you'll be able to "transform" Ukrainian into UK English.

Relevant Documentation:
https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/language-setup/#site-languages

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This topic contains 4 replies, has 2 voices.

Last updated by anthonyW-6 4 years, 11 months ago.

Assisted by: Radu.

Author	Posts
April 10, 2020 at 7:23 pm #5885981
anthonyW-6	I have a WordPress single domain multisite setup which already exists. I am trying to add WPML to it. These are my domains and languages: mydomain - US english mydomain/uk/ - UK english mydomain/de/ - German I have figured out that I need to use sunrise.php, and I also figured out the setup needs to be driven from the main US english site. My problem now is that I want to add en-GB as a language BUT I NEED THAT LANGUAGE CODE TO BE UK. When I try to add English with a code of 'uk' I get an error that 'The Language code already exists.'. I assume this is because the database is pre-populated with Ukraine as a language. This is not unreasonable, but people in the UK often refer to the country as UK not GB, and even if I could change my folder for UK English to be GB it is pre-existing as UK, so this would cost me in SEO which I cannot accept. Following other threads here I ran this database query: DELETE FROM `wp_icl_translations` WHERE language_code = 'uk' but I still get the error 'The Language code already exists.' when trying to add English after running this query. Please can you advise me how to add English with a language code of 'uk'?
April 13, 2020 at 2:00 pm #5896851
Radu	Hey Anthony, Can you tell me exactly what's the location where you are trying to add this code of uk so I can understand exactly what you're looking for (and give it a try on my testing website too), please? I just want to make sure that I understand exactly what's the change that you are looking for. Thanks, Radu
April 13, 2020 at 5:31 pm #5898263
anthonyW-6	Hi Radu, Yes of course, details below... While in the WP dashboard of the main site (this is a multisite setup, but I'm looking at the dashboard for the master site), I navigate to: WPML > Languages > Site Languages > Edit Languages which is at this URL: /wp-admin/admin.php?page=sitepress-multilingual-cms%2Fmenu%2Flanguages.php&trop=1 On that page there are 2 languages set up which are English and German, they have language codes: en, de. On this page if I click "add new language" I get a new row which is highlighted in yellow. I fill out the row choosing "uk" as the new language code. I can guess there may be a problem as the system suggests the Ukraine flag, and when I click "Save" the page reloads and I get the error "The Language code already exists". I've attached a screenshot of this error. Thanks for your help 🙂
April 15, 2020 at 7:54 am #5910821
Radu	Hey Anthony, Deleting a language from the plugin is not a good idea. Instead, you can go to WPML → Languages → Site Languages, press the Add / Remove languages, add the Ukraininan language, then press the Edit Languages link. I just did this, changed the values as in the screenshot I attached, and everything works fine. Can you give this a try and tell me how it works for you, please? Thanks, Radu
April 15, 2020 at 12:49 pm #5913585
anthonyW-6	Thanks Radu that has done the trick, much appreciated!