Translating your WordPress themes and plugins is a critical step, especially for businesses looking to reach a local audience. Thankfully, Loco Translate simplifies this process, even for users with minimal technical skills.
This article focuses on using Loco Translate to adapt your WordPress site to different languages. Whether you’re dealing with a WordPress theme or plugin, this tool provides an efficient way to translate content without coding. It works seamlessly with themes and plugins, ensuring your site’s user interface resonates with your target audience.
The process might sound technical, but Loco Translate streamlines it for users of all skill levels. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to install and use Loco Translate effectively. By the end, you’ll be equipped to translate any WordPress site to a local language.
What is Loco Translate Plugin?
Loco Translate is a powerful, free WordPress plugin designed to simplify translating themes and plugins directly within your WordPress dashboard. Its primary purpose is to help users adapt their websites for audiences in different languages, making site translation seamless and efficient.
Features of Loco Translate
- User-Friendly Interface: Loco Translate provides a straightforward translation editor for modifying text strings in themes and plugins without technical expertise.
- Cost-Effective: The plugin is free, making it an excellent option for WordPress site translation.
- Advanced Options: It supports creating and managing .po and .mo language files, includes automatic backups, and integrates seamlessly with WordPress localization codes.
Translate Your Site Using Loco Translate
Step 1. How to install Loco Translate
To start using Loco Translate, you need to install and activate the plugin on your WordPress site. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New. In the search bar, type Loco Translate and press enter. Locate the plugin in the results – and click the Install Now button. Once the installation is complete, activate the plugin by clicking the Activate button.
After the activation, you can find its menu under Loco Translate in your dashboard.
Step 2. Set Your Site Language
To use Loco Translate effectively for translating WordPress themes or plugins, it’s crucial to set your site language in the WordPress settings. This step ensures that your translated files are associated with the correct language and are displayed appropriately to visitors.
When you configure the site language ( Settings > General > Site Language ), WordPress aligns its core system and compatible plugins with that language. Loco Translate uses this setting to organize and apply your translation files. For instance, if your site language is set to French, Loco Translate will look for translation files specifically created for French and apply them to your theme or plugin. Without this alignment, your translations might not load correctly or could fail to display altogether.
Additionally, WordPress’ language setting helps Loco Translate determine where to save your translation files. By default, it stores them in the “wp-content/languages” directory to prevent overwrites during theme or plugin updates, a common issue when files are saved in the plugin or theme folders.
Step 3. Set Your Site Language
Once you’ve installed and activated Loco Translate, navigating its interface is straightforward. To begin translating, go to your WordPress dashboard and click on Loco Translate in the menu. From here, select Themes to access all the themes installed on your website.
For this example, we’ll use the Lawyers theme. In the list of available themes, find and click on “Lawyers”. This will take you to a dedicated page for managing translations specific to this theme.
Step 4: Create a New Translation
With the Lawyers theme selected in Loco Translate, the next steps are to create a new translation file and begin translating its strings. This process ensures that all text elements of the theme are adapted for your target audience.
1. On the Lawyers theme translation page, click on New Language.
2. In the dialog box, select the target language from the dropdown list. For instance, choose French if you want the theme to display content in French.
3. Decide where to save your translation files. For long-term safety (e.g., to avoid files being overwritten during updates), choose the Custom option, which saves translations in the wp-content/languages/loco directory.
4. Click Start Translating to create the new file.
Step 5: Translate Theme Strings
After creating the file, you’ll be directed to the Loco Translate editor. This page lists all the text strings in the Lawyers theme. Each string is displayed in the original language (e.g., English).
Use the search bar to find specific strings, such as “Leave a Comment” or “Submit Comment” . This is especially helpful for themes with numerous strings.
Select a string to translate. The original text will appear in the top field, and you’ll enter your translation in the lower field. Check the image below For example:
Review your translations carefully and click Save after each entry.
To ensure all strings are up to date, click Sync to reload and include any new strings from the Lawyers theme files.
Last step is to verify the translation. Open the page where the string is located and see if it is translated. In our example we’ll check the comments section from a blog post. This is the original text.
And this is the translated version.
If it’s still the original string text, make sure to clear your site and browser cache and check again. Double check that the language is set in Settings > General > Site Language .
To translate strings from a plugin, you follow the same idea as translating a theme. Thi time you go to Loco Translate > Plugins. Click on the plugin to start the translation.
Final Thoughts on Loco Translate
Loco Translate stands out as an accessible and powerful solution for WordPress site localization. Its user-friendly interface empowers website owners and developers to translate themes and plugins seamlessly, regardless of their technical expertise.
If you want to enhance your site’s reach to your local audience without investing heavily in custom solutions, Loco Translate is a reliable choice to get the job done.
FAQs
- What is Loco Translate used for?
Loco Translate is a plugin that simplifies the process of translating WordPress themes and plugins into different languages. - Where are translation files stored?
Translations are stored in.poand.mofiles in the WordPresslanguagesdirectory. - Does Loco Translate work with all WordPress themes and plugins?
It works with most, but compatibility depends on whether themes/plugins support translation files. Loco Translate works fine with our WordPress themes. - How do I back up my translations?
Save files in the custom location recommended by Loco Translate to avoid overwriting during updates.
