Background of the issue:
I am trying to ensure all necessary string translations are completed for my site, hidden link, using WPML. I discovered that 5 terms related to likes and comments were not translated properly across different languages.
Symptoms:
Despite populating the translation strings, the text for certain terms is still rendering in English. There is inconsistency across languages, with some terms translated in some languages but not others. The only page where all translations are rendered properly is in Chinese (Traditional).
Questions:
Why are some terms not translating properly across different languages despite populating their translation strings?
How can I ensure consistent translation for all terms across all languages using WPML?
Below is a link to one post where you can see this occurring. You will notice there is inconsistency across each languages. Some languages translate one term, while another does not. I have also included a screenshot and links to each in-language archive page below
hidden link
Here are the languages where we can see this happening for each term. Please note that the only page where all of the translations are rendered properly is Chinese (Traditional).
"Like"
Somali
Vietnamese
Amharic
Tigrinya
Arabic
"Be the first to like this."
Somali
Vietnamese
Amharic
Tigrinya
"Leave a Reply"
Chinese (Simplified)
Korean
Russian
Somali
Ukrainian
Vietnamese
Tagalog
Amharic
Arabic
"Write a comment…"
Somali
Vietnamese
Amharic
Tigrinya
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
Hello,
It is odd that the translation here works for some languages and others not, which makes it seem like the translations stopped working and this could mean that there is maybe an error occurring on the site.
I would like to request temporary access (wp-admin and FTP) to the website to investigate the issue further.
You can find the required fields below the comments section when you log in to leave the next reply. The information you provide is private, meaning only you and I can see and access it.
IMPORTANT
Please be sure to back up your website and database before granting us access.
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The private reply form looks like this: hidden link
Click "I still need assistance" the next time you reply.
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Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
"Like" & "Be the first to like this"
It does not seem that this string is actually translatable, and the strings for "Like" you translated are used elsewhere on the site. For example, the string right after "Be the first to like this" can not be found on String Translation.
To investigate this further, I would need to find out first where these strings are coming from.
"Leave a Reply"
This is coming from the string "admin_texts_highlander_comment_form_prompt highlander_comment_form_prompt" that for example was not yet translated to Somali. See screenshot.
"Write a comment…" & "Comment"
Here it seems the strings are registered but the translation is actually not working. This also would need further testing to identify where those strings are actually coming from (usually Kadence).
---
Now, there have been some known issues about text domains not loading on time which is something that has been occurring since the latest major update of WordPress. In those cases, theme and plugin authors needed to update the way in which they load text domains inside their plugins.
I have connected to the server using FTP and enabled WP DEBUG to check for errors, specifically:
Notice: Function _load_textdomain_just_in_time was called incorrectly
Until now not any debug.log file was created on the server. Do you maybe see any similar error inside the error.log section of your WordPress.com site?
---
I tried to use "All In One WP Migration" to create a local copy of the site for further revision of these issues but the export failed.
Any idea why I am not able to create a package of the site? Maybe the server is out of storage capacity?
I added translations for "Leave a Reply" and it's now being translated properly across all of the languages we could test.
This morning, I created fresh backups using JetPack, UpdraftPlus, and All In One WP Migration (see attached image). I'm hoping you can create a local copy of the site using either UpdraaftPlus or All In One WP Migration.
I checked the PHP and log files, but, didn't find anything similar to:
"Function _load_textdomain_just_in_time was called incorrectly"
Please let me know if I can provide any further information.
I noticed our site was disconnected from JetPack. Was this intentional? If not, it's critical that the connection is restored as soon as possible. When trying to reconnect this morning, I got the following message:
It appears that our connection to JetPack has been restored. If you need to disconnect from JetPack, please let us know prior to doing so. WordPress.com's hosting service requires that the connection be maintained in order for the site to appear online.
I appreciate your continued support with the missing translations.
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
My apologies for the inconvenience. Indeed, I disabled the plugin for 5 seconds to identify if a string was actually coming from this plugin. I was not expecting that this would disconnect the connectivity between your site and Jetpack and I am sorry for the interruption.
I am still migrating the website. Due to the huge amount of the database, such a task can take a very long time. I hope the migration will still finish today so that we can move forward with the ticket.
In case you do have a staging site available that displays the same issues, it could save us a lot of time.
If you do not hear back from me today, take kindly note, that I will be offline for the holidays and back in office on the 22nd of April.
No problem, Andreas. We were back up and running relatively quickly.
Please refrain from working on the production site for now. We will set up and give you access to our staging site.
Can you please provide guidance on how to configure WPML in our staging site so that your team can work in the staging environment and our team can work in both staging and production?
We do have some major updates planned that would be best to work on in the staging site and then sync the staging back to production when ready. Please explain how we can keep content from both sites synced up in the most efficient manner moving forward.
I went ahead and synced our production site to staging on WordPress.com and set the staging site up as a copy in the WPML wizard.
During the setup process, I got a message on our staging site that said:
"Great. Now this site and its copy on hidden link are sharing the credits for automatic translation.
Credits that you add on either site will be available on both sites. If you stop using this site, you don't need to worry about losing credits."
Please see the 2 screenshots I added for your reference. Both screenshots were taken while logged into our staging site.
I have just a couple of questions:
--
1. Can you please confirm that we setup both sites correctly? Our production site is located at KingCountyMetro.blog and our staging site is located at hidden link.
2. When visiting ingcountymetro.local, my browser displays the message below. Am I doing something wrong or is this by design?
"This site can’t be reached
Check if there is a typo in kingcountymetro.local.
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN"
3. Do you need any further information from us to continue troubleshooting the missing translations in the staging environment?
Another related issue has come up. When publishing new blog posts, even though there were no translated versions published, our outgoing JetPack emails are rendering in Vietnamese, while English is the default language of our website.
Can you please explain how to remedy this? I have attached a screenshot for your reference.
In case you need it for reference, here is all the copy that was included in the email:
***** Begin email copy *****
Read on blog or Reader
Metro Matters
Moving at ‘lightning’ speed: King County Metro’s 100% zero-emission bus base nears completion
By Al Sanders on April 22, 2025
It’s the size of nine football fields, powered by clean electricity, and is getting ready to welcome the first battery-electric, zero-emission buses that will call it home. A year after breaking ground Tukwila Base, Metro’s first 100% electric bus base, is nearing completion and preparing to start testing the charging infrastructure that will power over […]
Continue reading
Comment
You can also reply to this email to leave a comment.
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
Hi,
I was able to install a local copy of the site to investigate the issue.
1) On this local install the "Like" button does not appear, which might be related to the fact that you need to be connected to Jetpack.
2) Also the comment form appears differently on the local install and uses different strings, which also might be related to Jetpack and the fact that it is not registered for this local install.
Jetpack Settings:
Currently in Offline Mode (some features are disabled) because:
- Your site URL is a known local development environment URL
After all it looks like all the strings that you are actually trying to translate are coming from the Jetpack plugin. You could in this case try to scan the plugin for new strings at WPML > Theme & Plugin Localization.
Sometimes it might occur that some registered strings will not longer display the translations as expected. You could in this case test to delete one of the affected strings at WPML > String Translation first, then register them again and translate them.
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Regarding your Staging:
Once you create the staging, you will need to register its site URL on wpml.org and then register WPML on the site.
There is not a way to sync the content between staging and production from WPML's side, but you could connect both sites so that they share the translation memory of the WPML Translation Editor and the glossary and translation credits.
This will have the effect, that if you translate something on one site, you will see the translations becoming auto-completed inside the translation editor on the other site.
Languages: English (English )Spanish (Español )German (Deutsch )
Timezone: America/Lima (GMT-05:00)
It looks like the hosting company does not allow me to edit the wp-config.php file. If I visit the root directory of WordPress the file is not available.
Please edit the file on your server and enable WP DEBUG by adding/editing:
Leave me a comment once you are done with this task. In case this file was deleted by mistake, please ask you hosting support to assist you with recreating the file.
