{"id":106,"date":"2026-09-23T11:24:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T11:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/uncategorized\/outdated-translations-2\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T11:24:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T11:24:44","slug":"outdated-translations-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/latw-for-polylang\/outdated-translations-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Updating Outdated Translations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Available in LATW AI Translation for Polylang PRO<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

What it does<\/h2>\n

When you change a post that is already translated, its translations fall behind. On the
\nTranslations<\/strong> screen such a language is marked with a yellow warning icon \u2014 Translation is
\nolder than the original \u2014 needs updating<\/em> \u2014 and its box starts ticked. You then decide how to
\nbring it up to date. The plugin offers three ways:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Translate only changed strings (recommended)<\/strong> \u2014 the default. Only the parts of the post you
    \nactually changed are sent to the AI. Everything else keeps the translation it already has.<\/li>\n
  • Translate only changed strings, with the whole page as context (best quality, higher cost)<\/strong> \u2014
    \nthe same strings are translated and written, but the AI is also shown the rest of the page and
    \nthe translation already published for it.<\/li>\n
  • Re-translate the whole post from scratch<\/strong> \u2014 the post is translated again from the first word
    \nto the last, and the previous translation is replaced.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The setting lives in AI Translation \u2192 Settings \u2192 Translation \u2192 Outdated Translations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Translating only what changed is usually much cheaper: fixing a typo in one paragraph of a long
    \narticle costs one paragraph, not the whole article. It is also faster, and it leaves the rest of
    \nthe translation exactly as it is \u2014 including any wording you corrected by hand.<\/p>\n

    This setting only applies to content that is already translated.<\/strong> A post being translated for
    \nthe first time is always translated in full, because there is nothing to keep. The Translate
    \nAgain<\/strong> button is also always a full re-translation, whatever the setting says \u2014 that is what the
    \nbutton is for (see How to Translate Again?<\/em>).<\/p>\n

    Without an active licence every update is a full re-translation, so an update costs what a first
    \ntranslation costs.<\/p>\n

    Translating with the whole page as context<\/h2>\n

    The two “only changed strings” modes write exactly the same thing: the changed strings, nothing
    \nelse. They differ in what the AI is allowed to see while translating them.<\/p>\n

    In the default mode the AI receives the changed strings alone. A new paragraph added to a long
    \narticle arrives with no idea what the article is about, how its terms were translated before, or
    \nwhether the page addresses the reader formally or informally. That is what makes an updated page
    \nread as if it were written by two different people: the new paragraph is correct on its own and
    \ndoes not match the page around it.<\/p>\n

    With the whole page as context, the job also carries every untouched part of the page \u2014 its
    \nsource text and<\/em> the translation currently published for it \u2014 marked as reference material the
    \nAI must not translate or return. The AI is told to treat the published translation as approved:
    \nto reuse its terminology, keep its tone and formality, and not to “improve” a word you chose.<\/p>\n

    This is the mode to pick if you correct translations by hand and want new content to sound like
    \nthe corrections rather than like a fresh translation. Your corrections are part of the context<\/strong>
    \n\u2014 they are read from the translated post, so the AI is shown your wording, not the wording it
    \nproduced originally.<\/p>\n

    The cost.<\/strong> Every update sends the entire page to the AI on top of the strings being translated,
    \nso an update to a long article is priced closer to a full re-translation than to a delta one \u2014
    \nwhile still writing only the changed strings, and still protecting everything else. It is
    \ndeliberately the expensive option: it exists for sites where translation quality matters more than
    \nthe token bill.<\/p>\n

    The exact shape of that reference material is described in How the Translation Prompt Works<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    Machine-translation engines.<\/strong> DeepL, Google Translate and MyMemory translate text instead of
    \nfollowing instructions, so there is no way to give them context. With one of those selected, this
    \nmode behaves exactly like the default one.<\/p>\n

    How the plugin decides what changed<\/h2>\n

    Polylang does not remember what was translated, so the plugin keeps its own record: every
    \nfinished translation stores the exact text that was sent and the translation that came back. On
    \nthe next update it compares the original as it is now with that record:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Identical \u2192 the existing translation is kept and nothing is sent to the AI.<\/li>\n
    • Different, or brand new \u2192 it goes to the AI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      A piece of text is recognised by what it says, not by where it sits. Insert a paragraph at the top
      \nof a page and only that paragraph is translated \u2014 the paragraphs below it moved, but they did not
      \nchange.<\/p>\n

      What counts as one “string” depends on how the post is built:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
      Content<\/th>\nCompared as<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
      Title, excerpt<\/td>\nOne string each<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Body written in the block editor<\/strong><\/td>\nOne string per piece of text in a block \u2014 usually one per paragraph or heading, several for blocks that hold more than one (a list, a table, a button and its label)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Body written in the classic editor<\/strong><\/td>\nThe whole body as a single string<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Elementor<\/strong><\/td>\nOne string per text field of a widget<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Custom fields (ACF, SEO plugins, \u2026)<\/td>\nOne string per field; a field holding a list is compared value by value<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

      This is why the block editor and Elementor benefit most: add one paragraph to a long page and only
      \nthat paragraph is translated. In the classic editor the body is a single string, so any change to
      \nit \u2014 even one word \u2014 re-translates the whole body. Title, excerpt and custom fields are still
      \ncompared separately, so they are still skipped when untouched.<\/p>\n

      The record has to exist.<\/strong> Only translations this plugin produced can be updated this way. A
      \ntranslation written by hand or with another tool, or one whose linked post was deleted or replaced
      \nin Polylang’s language switcher, is translated in full the first time; from then on it updates
      \nnormally.<\/p>\n

      Categories, tags and other terms are short and are always translated whole.<\/p>\n

      When nothing is sent to the AI at all<\/h2>\n

      Some changes carry no new text to translate: re-arranging blocks, swapping an image, changing a
      \ncategory, or a field that is not translated, such as a price written by an importer.<\/p>\n

      When that happens the plugin finds nothing to translate and does not call the AI<\/strong>. You are not
      \nbilled, and the Translations screen says already up to date \u2014 nothing needed re-translating<\/em>. The
      \ntranslation is still saved once, so its categories, featured image and copied fields follow the
      \noriginal, and the warning icon disappears.<\/p>\n

      Corrections you made by hand<\/h2>\n

      This is the part worth understanding, because it is where the two modes differ most.<\/p>\n

      You translate a page, then open the translation and fix a sentence the AI got wrong. Later you add
      \na new paragraph to the original and update the translation. What happens to your fix?<\/p>\n

      With “translate only changed strings”, your correction is kept.<\/strong> Before sending anything to the
      \nAI, the plugin reads the translated post as it stands now and records your wording as the current
      \ntranslation of that paragraph. The AI is then asked only for the new paragraph, and the finished
      \npage contains your corrected sentence plus the newly translated paragraph.<\/p>\n

      With “re-translate the whole post from scratch”, your correction is replaced.<\/strong> Every paragraph
      \nis translated again, including the one you fixed. This is intentional \u2014 it is what a full
      \nre-translation means \u2014 but it is worth knowing before you pick that option on a post you have
      \nedited by hand.<\/p>\n

      Where hand corrections are kept<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
      What you edited in the translation<\/th>\nKept when translating only what changed<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
      Title, excerpt<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Body \u2014 block editor content<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Body \u2014 classic editor content<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Elementor text<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Custom fields (ACF, SEO plugins, \u2026)<\/td>\nYes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

      Edit the translation wherever you normally would \u2014 the WordPress editor, Elementor, the SEO
      \nplugin’s box. There is no separate translation editor to use.<\/p>\n

      Things that stop a merge<\/h3>\n

      There are situations the plugin will not try to resolve:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • You added or removed blocks (or Elementor widgets) in the translation itself.<\/strong> The
        \ntranslation no longer matches the original piece for piece, so there is no safe way to say which
        \ntranslated block belongs to which original one.<\/li>\n
      • The same text appears twice in the original and you translated the two copies differently.<\/strong>
        \nThe plugin keeps one translation per distinct piece of source text, so there is no way to keep
        \nboth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        When this happens, the update is refused before anything is sent to the AI<\/strong>. You get a message
        \nsaying so, nothing is billed, and the translation stays exactly as you left it. This is deliberate:
        \nthe plugin rebuilds the translated post from the structure of the original, so going ahead would
        \nthrow away the blocks you added \u2014 and charge you for it.<\/p>\n

        The fix is Translate Again<\/strong>. It replaces the translation completely, in one pass, and updates
        \nmerge normally from then on. If you would rather keep what is there, make the same structural
        \nchange to the original first, so the two line up again.<\/p>\n

        If the structure differs but you did not change any of the text \u2014 nothing of yours is at risk \u2014
        \nthe update simply goes ahead.<\/p>\n

        What a changed paragraph does to your correction<\/h3>\n

        If you correct the translation of a paragraph and then change that same paragraph in the
        \noriginal<\/strong>, the paragraph is re-translated and your correction to it is gone. Only corrections to
        \nparts you did not touch in the original survive. That is unavoidable: the source text it belonged
        \nto no longer exists.<\/p>\n

        Purely cosmetic differences \u2014 an extra space, a &nbsp;<\/code>, a different HTML entity for the same
        \ncharacter \u2014 are not treated as corrections and do not stop anything.<\/p>\n

        Which mode should I use?<\/h2>\n

        Use translate only changed strings<\/strong> (the default) for normal editing: fixing typos, adding
        \nsections, updating prices in text, extending an article. It is cheaper, faster, and it protects
        \nthe corrections you or your translators made.<\/p>\n

        Use translate only changed strings, with the whole page as context<\/strong> when the result matters more
        \nthan the cost: a flagship page, a site whose translations are proofread by a person, or content
        \nfull of terminology that has to stay consistent from one update to the next. It keeps everything
        \nthe default mode keeps and buys consistency with the surrounding text.<\/p>\n

        Use re-translate the whole post from scratch<\/strong> when the translation as a whole is no longer good:
        \nyou rewrote the original heavily, you changed the translation prompt or glossary, you switched
        \nengine or model, or you simply want a clean result and do not need what is there now.<\/p>\n

        You do not have to change the setting to do a one-off full re-translation \u2014 the Translate Again<\/strong>
        \nbutton on the Translations screen always does that.<\/p>\n

        Automatic translation<\/h2>\n

        Automatic translation is for new content, so it rarely meets this setting. It does when a post that
        \nalready has some of its languages is published into the missing ones: the languages it already has
        \nare brought up to date in the mode chosen here. With Re-translate the whole post from scratch<\/strong>
        \nselected, that means paying for them again. See Automatic Translation<\/em>.<\/p>\n

        Checking what happened<\/h2>\n

        Every run is recorded in the plugin log (AI Translation \u2192 Logs<\/strong>). Useful lines:<\/p>\n

          \n
        • addon: imported manual edits from the translation<\/code> \u2014 hand corrections were found and kept, with
          \nthe number of strings.<\/li>\n
        • pll_service: delta job already up to date, closing without an LLM call<\/code> \u2014 nothing changed,
          \nnothing was billed.<\/li>\n
        • addon: refusing to translate, the translation was edited and no longer lines up with the original<\/code> \u2014 the update was refused as described above; nothing was sent to the AI and nothing
          \nwas changed.<\/li>\n
        • pll_service: enqueued post job<\/code> \u2014 shows the mode the job ran in (delta<\/code>, delta-context<\/code> or
          \nfull<\/code>), how many strings are being translated, how many were kept (carried_fields<\/code>) and, for
          \ndelta-context<\/code>, how many were sent along as context.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          The History<\/strong> screen lists every translation with the tokens and cost it used, so an update that
          \nonly translated a paragraph is visibly cheaper than a full one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Available in LATW AI Translation for Polylang PRO. What it does When you change a post that is already translated, its translations fall behind. On the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_latwm_translated_slug":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latw-for-polylang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}