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

Problem:
The client needed to serve the same English content under specific country-based URLs for the UK and AU markets without translating the content, while preserving WPML compatibility. They faced issues with using 'uk' as a language code in WPML, which is reserved for Ukrainian, and encountered a 'Too Many Redirects' error when duplicating products.
Solution:
We advised the client that duplicating the content for UK and AU markets is the best approach. For duplicating content without translation, we recommended following the guide on displaying untranslated content in secondary languages, available here: https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/displaying-untranslated-content-on-pages-in-secondary-languages/. Additionally, since 'uk' is reserved for Ukrainian, we suggested adding Ukrainian as a language to use 'UK' in the URL and then manually translating or duplicating the content. The issue of 'Too Many Redirects' was addressed in a separate ticket.

Please note that this solution might be outdated or not applicable to your specific case.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 the issue persists, please open a new support ticket at our support forum.

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This topic contains 7 replies, has 0 voices.

Last updated by itA-15 1 week, 4 days ago.

Assisted by: Carlos Rojas.

Author Posts
June 4, 2025 at 9:32 am #17105555

itA-15

Background of the issue:
We’re currently using WPML for multilingual support on our WordPress site. Our primary content is in English, and we want to serve the same English content under specific country-based URLs, particularly for UK and AU markets. We need to achieve country-specific URLs using the same English content: For UK: hidden link For AU: hidden link Hreflang implementation without translation: For UK: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="hidden link" /> For AU: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-au" href="hidden link" /> Keep canonical URLs matching these regional versions. We do not want to disturb our existing Spanish (es) translated pages. We only want UK and AU to serve English content under separate localized URLs with appropriate hreflang tags. Region-specific pricing: For example, showing product prices in GBP for UK visitors, calculated dynamically on the product page.

Symptoms:
No specific issue or error message mentioned.

Questions:
Could you please guide us on the best WPML-compatible way to achieve this without duplicating or translating the content?

June 5, 2025 at 8:44 am #17109087

Carlos Rojas
WPML Supporter since 03/2017

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español )

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

Hello,
Thank you for contacting us

In this case, duplicating the content into UK and AU will do the trick. Here is a guide on how to do it: https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/displaying-untranslated-content-on-pages-in-secondary-languages/

Please let me know if you need further assistance.
Regards,
Carlos

June 5, 2025 at 11:41 am #17110116

itA-15

I hope you're doing well.

We are currently facing an issue while configuring English (UK) in WPML on our website hidden link.

When we try to assign the language code uk to English (UK), WPML displays the following error:

“The Language code already exists.”

It appears that WPML reserves the uk code for the Ukrainian language. However, in our case, we want to use uk in the URL slug to represent English (UK) for both SEO and regional targeting purposes.

❗ Our Requirement:
We would like to generate URLs in the following format for English (UK):

hidden link
We do not need the Ukrainian language on the site — we only want to use uk as the URL slug for English (UK) (en_GB).

🙏 Request:
Could you please advise:

How we can assign English (UK) the language code uk in WPML

Or how to customize the URL slug to use /uk/ for English (UK), while keeping the language locale as en_GB

Looking forward to your guidance on resolving this.

June 5, 2025 at 12:03 pm #17110191

Carlos Rojas
WPML Supporter since 03/2017

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español )

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

Hi,

This is a new problem, different from the original one. Is the original issue solved?

June 9, 2025 at 6:05 am #17116954

itA-15

Thank you for your response.

To clarify, both the current issue and the original one are part of the same requirement. Our goal is to:

Keep English as the base language,

And manually copy specific English content under custom paths such as:

hidden link
hidden link
These /uk/ and /au/ directories are custom folders intended to serve region-specific versions of our English content (UK and Australia). They are not tied to WPML language codes, but we want to manage them in a way that preserves WPML compatibility or at least doesn't conflict with it.

The reason we initially tried to set the language code to uk for English (UK) was to align the WPML language slug with our intended URL structure. When that wasn't possible due to a conflict with the Ukrainian language, we began considering a manual setup.

So in short:

Yes, this is still the same overall goal.

We want to copy English content into custom paths like /uk/ and /au/.

We are looking for the best WPML-compatible way to do this — whether through language slugs, custom language setup, or even outside WPML with static content.

Please let us know what you'd recommend for handling this setup.

June 9, 2025 at 7:30 am #17117167

Carlos Rojas
WPML Supporter since 03/2017

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español )

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

Hi,

As the UK is the reserved language code for Ukrainian, you cannot create a custom language with that code. However, you can add the Ukrainian language (so you can use UK in the URL) and then manually translate the content from the original language into it. You can also duplicate the content in bulk as described in this guide: https://wpml.org/documentation/translating-your-contents/displaying-untranslated-content-on-pages-in-secondary-languages/#duplicating-content, which will help you save time.

Please let me know if you require any additional assistance.

June 11, 2025 at 7:15 am #17124161
itA-15

Hi,
I am encountering a critical issue after duplicating a product using WPML on my WooCommerce website.

After duplicating the product into another language:

The translated product URL is generated, but accessing it leads to a "Too Many Redirects" error.

When I open the translated product in the editor, the content area is completely empty, and the slug field is also blank.

As a result, the product cannot be accessed or edited correctly in the secondary language.

Steps Taken:
I have already flushed permalinks by saving Settings → Permalinks.

I cleared all caches (including plugin and server-level cache).

I disabled browser language redirection under WPML → Languages.

I verified that the product is published and correctly linked as a translation.

Despite these efforts, the issue persists.

Request:
Could you please assist in resolving this redirect loop and help ensure that the duplicated product correctly carries over content and generates a valid slug?

Please let me know if you need access details or logs.

Thank you for your support.

New threads created by Carlos Rojas and linked to this one are listed below:

https://wpml.org/forums/topic/split-need-help-setting-up-alternate-urls-uk-au-without-translation/

June 11, 2025 at 9:34 am #17124797

Carlos Rojas
WPML Supporter since 03/2017

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español )

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

Hi there,

I split this ticket to solve the "Too Many Redirects" error separately because it is a different issue.

As the original problem was solved, I kindly ask you to set this ticket as resolved and continue in the new one.

Best regards,
Carlos

June 12, 2025 at 6:13 am #17128448

itA-15

yes It's resolved