f you want to translate your site or store on WordPress into any other language, and are looking for an easy-to-use plugin, the Loco Translate plugin helps you translate all the strange texts and phrases on your site using an easy and simple interface.
In this article, we will provide a complete explanation of how to translate your site using the Loco Translate add-on, and how to Arabize all templates (Themes) and plugins (whether those that appear to the user or appear to the site administrator), and save those settings and activate them so that your site is ready to be translated into any language you want.
Use Loco Translate to translate your site
Let us now explain to you the steps required to use the Loco Translate plugin, to translate all elements of your site from templates or plugins to any other language, using an editor integrated with the WordPress control panel that enables you to discover strange phrases, translate them into the target language, and then save the changes.
We will complete this explanation step by step as follows:
- Install and activate the Loco Translate add-on
- Translating WordPress templates
- Select Language
- Choose where to save the translation files
- Start the translation process
- Save the translation
- Translating WordPress plugins
- Activate and use new language files
Install and activate the Loco Translate add-on
You can install the plugin by going to the WordPress control panel on your site, then to Add-ons << Add New , then type in the search box ( Loco Translate ) and click Install Now. After installation, click Activate to activate the add-on, as in the following picture explanation. (Or read how to install a WordPress plugin correctly )
After activating the plugin, the Loco Translate options will appear in the WordPress control panel, as follows.
Thus, we have successfully activated the add-on. Let us begin the steps of translating the website in the next stage, and let us begin translating WordPress templates.
Translating WordPress templates
You can start translating your templates, through the extension’s control panel, by going to: Loco Translate >> Themes
After that, a page will open for us containing all the templates on the site, where you can choose the template you want to translate yourself, and it is certainly not necessary to translate all templates. For example, let’s say you choose one of the following templates:
The next step is to choose the language you want, by clicking on New language
In the next window, you can select the desired language through the (Choose Language) tab , as well as choose where to save the new language files.
There are 3 options to specify where to save files:
- Custom
- The translation files for the new language are saved in the following path: (languages/loco/themes/infinite-photography-ar.po), which means that a special folder will be created within the WordPress languages folder, and the new language file will be stored in a subfolder within it.
- System
- The translation files for the new language are saved in the following path: (languages/themes/infinite-photography-ar.po), which means that the files will be saved in the themes folder, which is located in the WordPress languages folder.
- Author
- The new language files are saved in the following path: themes/infinite-photography/languages/ar.po.
This means that the files will be saved within the languages folder of the plugin itself, and not within the main languages folder of WordPress.
- The new language files are saved in the following path: themes/infinite-photography/languages/ar.po.
In general, it is recommended to save files under the Custom option , to ensure that files are not lost when updating plugins or updating WordPress. Then, after updating the language and specifying where to save the files, click on Start Translating , to begin the translation process.
After that, a new page will open for us, through which we will translate the words and texts on the site into the language we previously chose. You will find that the translation editor provides you with the translation process through 3 important parts of the editor as follows:
- From here we choose the text we want to translate
- The text written in your source or website
- We write a translation of the text into the desired language.
For example:
If you have a website in Arabic and you use a template designed in English, then after translating the template you find that the texts in the template you use are not all translated into Arabic, and you need to translate some of them yourself.
As in the following image, you will find the word ( LEAVE A COMMENT ), which needs to be translated into (Leave a comment).
We will return to the previous page, search for this required word (Leave a Comment) and translate it as follows:
- We write the text to be translated in the search box
- We write the translation in the space designated for it
- Click on Save to save the translation
The result will be as follows:
Another example of translating another text, using the same previous steps
In this way, you can translate all templates and all the texts that appear in them in different cases, and let us move to the next step in translating your site’s additions.
Translating WordPress plugins
WordPress plugins can be translated, in the same way that is used to translate WordPress templates, where you will go through your site’s control panel to: Loco Translate >> Plugins, and then choose the plugin that you want to translate into Arabic or any other language.
For example, we will translate the Portfolio add-on.
After that, you can add a new language to work on, or choose from the existing languages
After choosing the language, you can start translating the texts you want, like the previous method
Note : While translating texts, you may see some numbers or special letters. When you translate such words, you must keep those symbols as they are. For example, when translating the word (% Comments), you must keep the sign (%) and only translate the text that follows it to translate it. To (% comments). As these signs or numbers may indicate certain variables.
Activate and use new language files
To activate and use the new language files that you have translated, you need to change the WordPress language of your site according to the language you want through the WordPress control panel, by going to: Settings << General and then switching to the desired language.
WordPress automatically uses newly created language files to display translated text according to the template you worked on.
Additional features in Loco Translate
In the previous steps above, we explained how to translate templates and plugins, but there are some other features that the plugin has, as we can see in the following image.
The settings (Setup, Advanced) are suitable for developers and those who have good experience in dealing with translation files. For example, it allows you to download versions of translations via XML files and then edit them.
There are also some additional features when working on translating texts
- Sync, performs a manual synchronization check with the current version of the translation
- Revert This button reverses changes one step at a time
- PO and MO, through which you can upload and download translations to external files for use in other projects
We would like to point out here that there is no possibility of switching languages in the Loco Translate add-on or the so-called (Language switcher), as the add-on was originally designed to perform the basic tasks and functions of translating some of the phrases and texts that appear on the site.
Make machine translation using Loco Translate
If you want to complete the translation process automatically, you can use the Automatic Translate Addon For Loco Translate , which works as an automatic translator within the Loco Translate add-on. Through it you can perform automatic translation of any add-on or template, noting that texts that contain a special character or HTML will not be translated.
You can install and activate the add-on, then you will find a new option that appears in the Loco Translate settings, which is the automatic translation option: Auto Translate Addon
Thus, you can perform automatic translation by following the same previous steps, only to find that a new goodness has appeared that has been added in the add-on options, which is the Auto Translate option .
By clicking on that button, you will find a new window in which you can specify how to translate the template or add-on
Then a new page will appear, showing you all the texts that need to be translated, then click on Translate to start the automatic translation.
Of course, machine translation will not be as accurate as manual translation, but it can be an effective option when dealing with big data.
Thus, we have learned about the explanation of using the Loco Translate add-on to translate the content of your site using the features provided by the add-on in its free version, which helps you complete the translation effectively through a simple editor that detects all the phrases and words in the template or add-on so that you can translate it into another language or more than one language. To provide multiple languages available for your site
