WPML is a super useful plugin that will allow you to reach more people since it turns your website into a multilanguage. With it, you can translate any type of blog entries, types, taxonomies, menus and other texts of the Theme.

What are the advantages of using this plugin?

• It supports very popular themes and plugins such as Divi, Yoast, Contact Form 7, Woocommerce, Elementor and more.
• It’s very favorable for multilingual SEO since it optimizes functions in multiple languages.
• Site maps developed correctly and validated by Google webmasters.
• Translations linked together.
• It favors the correct traffic in the appropriate language from the search engines.
• 30 day guarantee
• Controlled visualization of URLs.

WPML offers three paid versions with different characteristics:

Blog: includes the WPML core

+ Media Translation plugin

CMS: includes the WPML core. Support and updates for one year.

+ Media Translation plugin
+ String Translation plugin
+ Translation Management plugin
+ Translation Analytics plugin
+ XLIFF plugin
+ Sticky Links plugin
+ CMS Navigation plugin

CMS Lifetime: With the same advantages as the previous modality, but with support and updates for life.

How to translate the menu with WPML?

Manually

To do this procedure manually, we must go to Appearance and then to Menu with language controls.

To translate this menu, click on the “+” icons next to the languages. This will create a new menu, which is linked to this menu as a translation.

Now you can add pages and categories to the translated menu.

With the menu synchronization tool

This tool will help you keep the entire menu synchronized in different languages, even when you edit manually (the latter will be preserved when synchronization is performed). Its function is to add or delete entries from the translated menus. It’s very easy to use:

In WPML click on Synchronize WP menu.

There you will see which entries will be added and which ones will be removed from the translated menus.

Click on the Sync button.

How to translate custom links?

Without plugin

If you do not have any plugins installed, you must manually edit the custom links and the labels of each translated menu.

With plugin

WPML String Translation will allow you to accomplish this mission by synchronizing the menu links and translated tags. You will achieve it in the following way:

After installing the plugin, go to Synchronize WP Menu, from WPML.

Select the link you want to customize and click on Translation of strings.

Go to Synchronize WP menu. When you visualize the menu synchronization tool you will see what needs to be updated. By clicking on the translation you can edit it. When finished click on Sync.

After editing what you need and then verify all the actions to perform, click Apply.

A window will show you the result of the synchronization. At the end of the window, you will see a personalized link that you can translate by clicking on it.

Translate the strings of the menu items.

Synchronize again to update the name of the elements of the link using the translated strings.

Ready! You can see the translated menus.

In the configuration of the theme, you can specify the default language. WPML will link directly to the menu and display it according to the current language.

How to customize themes and plugins?

Using .mo files

This type of customization is good for when the .mo files are already included with the theme.

Themes and plugins load .mo files with translations, without the need for editing. The theme will always load its own translations by default, regardless of the choice of WPML translation options.

How to activate the WPML translation? You just have to go to WPML and click on the theme location and plugin.

There you will be able to select Translate using the .mo files, in this way you will indicate to WPML that you don’t edit these translations through the String Translation module.

Translate the Theme texts directly from WPML

In this way you can manage the translation of texts in the themes and plugins from the administration screen for the translation of WPML strings.

By selecting this option, WPML will generate a report of what you find and will allow you to add the personalized translations that you want from the same WordPress, from a search of texts that can be translated.

This modality of WPML takes the translations of the .mo files that exist in the theme and the plugins when it detects translated strings that are not registered.

How to scan the theme and plugins for text strings?

Click on Review the Theme strings. This will cause WPML to scan the active theme in file search and extract the translatable texts.

If you check the Load translations box if they are in the .mo files, WPML will take care of using all the translation that exists in the .mo files of the theme and consider them the original translations (but you can always edit them).

WPML will show you the strings found in the theme and the translation state in which they are found. By clicking on View strins that need translation, you will see the translation of strings page and you can add the translation for each text.

To scan the plugins select load translations if they are in the .mo files (if you want to use the existing translations in these files) and click Scan the selected plugins in search of strings.

How to translate the strings?

One advantage of this WPML feature is that it is available for both administrators and publishers.

If you are using the WPML Translation Administration module, you can choose strings and assign them to be translated by the translator you assign. You just have to choose the strings that you need to translate and click on the send button, the translator will receive it. You can access the Strings Translation screen and execute the actions from there, only those you have selected.

Choose the strings to be translated and the target language and click on the button to send to translation. Translators can access the Translation of strings screen and translate only the ones you have selected.

How to specify the regional codes for different languages?

The variations according to regional code (for example es_ES for Spanish of Spain and es_MX for Spanish of Mexico) are the ones that determine which variant of the language should be used in each case. The local variations of WPML already have in their tables the values of all the common languages, you can edit them when you add custom languages or if you want to use a different combination of language and country.

How to customize themes and plugins?

Using .mo files

This type of customization is good for when the .mo files are already included with the theme.

Themes and plugins load .mo files with translations, without the need for editing. The theme will always load its own translations by default, regardless of the choice of WPML translation options.

How to activate the WPML translation? You just have to go to WPML and click on the topic location and plugin.

There you will be able to select Translate using the .mo files, in this way you will indicate to WPML that you do not edit these translations through the string Translation module.

Translate the Theme texts directly from WPML

In this way, you can manage the translation of texts in the themes and plugins from the administration screen for the translation of WPML strings.

By selecting this option, WPML will generate a report of what you find and will allow you to add the personalized translations that you want from the same WordPress, from a search of texts that can be translated.

This modality of WPML takes the translations of the .mo files that exist in the theme and the plugins when it detects translated strings that are not registered.

How to get the translation files for WordPress?

WPML can download the translations offered by WordPress using the String Translation module. For this, you must enable it and you will see an option in which you will authorize WPML to make these downloads.

You can also download it manually. For this, you must go to WordPress Localization Project, choose the version of WordPress that is using your website, select the language and then select Export. In this way, the translations will be downloaded.

To enable language customization, you must define the particular language file by pointing to it in the Name column of the regional file. Afterwards, you must download the local WordPress file and save it in wp-includes / languages or wp-content / languages. Click on the language name to see the download links in the table above.

What method do you use to translate your website? Tell us!