{"id":94,"date":"2026-09-21T16:35:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T16:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/uncategorized\/what-gets-translated\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T16:35:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T16:35:29","slug":"what-gets-translated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/latw-for-wpml\/what-gets-translated\/","title":{"rendered":"What Gets Translated?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you send a page for translation, the plugin does not decide what to translate. WPML builds
\nthe list<\/strong>, hands it over, and writes the answers back. That is why a page can come back translated
\nwith its SEO title still in English, or with one ACF field untouched: those pieces were never in the
\nlist to begin with.<\/p>\n

Knowing how the list is built is usually all it takes to fix it.<\/p>\n

The rule behind everything on this page<\/h2>\n

A piece of content reaches the translator when both<\/strong> of these are true:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. WPML is set to translate it.<\/strong> Post types, taxonomies and custom fields each have their own
    \nsetting.<\/li>\n
  2. It actually has a value.<\/strong> An empty field has nothing to translate, so WPML leaves it out
    \nentirely. This is the one people miss: the setting is right, the field is simply blank on that
    \nparticular page.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The standard parts of a post<\/h2>\n

    The title, the content and the excerpt are always included. Nothing needs configuring \u2014 if the post
    \nhas them, they are translated.<\/p>\n

    Custom fields, including SEO<\/h2>\n

    Everything a plugin or theme stores beside the post \u2014 SEO titles and descriptions, ACF fields,
    \nsubtitles, button labels \u2014 is a custom field, and WPML treats them all the same way.<\/p>\n

    Go to WPML \u2192 Settings \u2192 Custom Fields Translation<\/strong>. Every field registered on the site is listed
    \nwith four choices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Setting<\/th>\nWhat happens<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    Translate<\/strong><\/td>\nSent to the translator and written back translated.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Copy<\/strong><\/td>\nCopied to the translation verbatim, and re-copied whenever the original changes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Copy once<\/strong><\/td>\nCopied when the translation is first created, then left alone for editing by hand.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Don’t translate<\/strong><\/td>\nIgnored. The translation keeps whatever the field has, usually nothing.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    SEO plugins.<\/strong> Yoast, Rank Math, SureRank, AIOSEO and the others ship a WPML configuration that
    \nsets their fields to Translate<\/strong> for you, so this is usually already correct \u2014 worth checking once
    \nrather than assuming. With it in place, the SEO title and meta description are translated along with
    \nthe page, and so are the Facebook and Twitter titles and descriptions if you fill those in.<\/p>\n

    Remember the second condition: a page with an empty SEO title has nothing to translate there. If you
    \nrely on your SEO plugin to generate titles automatically, there is no stored value, nothing is sent,
    \nand the translation generates its own title in its own language \u2014 which is usually what you want
    \nanyway.<\/p>\n

    ACF and other field plugins.<\/strong> Same screen, same four choices. WPML publishes a recommended set of
    \npreferences for ACF; the links at the bottom of Do internal links point to the translated pages?<\/em>
    \npoint at it.<\/p>\n

    Term meta<\/strong> \u2014 fields attached to categories and tags rather than posts \u2014 has its own list, under
    \nWPML \u2192 Settings \u2192 Custom Term Meta Translation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Pages built with a page builder<\/h2>\n

    Content from Elementor, Spectra, Divi, WPBakery and the block editor does not arrive as one block of
    \ntext. WPML breaks it into individual strings \u2014 a heading, a button label, a paragraph \u2014 and each one
    \nis translated separately. That is why a page builder page can show dozens of small pieces rather
    \nthan one body field, and why its translation is rebuilt rather than stored as one lump.<\/p>\n

    Two consequences worth knowing:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Text that is not text \u2014 an image file name, a #<\/code> placeholder link, a CSS class \u2014 is part of the
      \nsame list, because WPML cannot tell the difference. It is passed through unchanged.<\/li>\n
    • Editing a translated page builder page by hand edits those strings, not the post content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Post types and taxonomies<\/h2>\n

      WPML \u2192 Settings \u2192 Post Types Translation<\/strong> decides which content types are translatable at all. A
      \ncustom post type set to Not translatable<\/em> will never appear anywhere in this plugin.<\/p>\n

      WPML \u2192 Settings \u2192 Taxonomies Translation<\/strong> does the same for categories, tags and product
      \ncategories. Terms are translated separately from the posts that use them \u2014 see How to Translate?<\/em>
      \nfor where to do that.<\/p>\n

      What is not covered here<\/h2>\n
        \n
      • Links and menus<\/strong> have their own rules, and their own page: Do internal links point to the
        \ntranslated pages?<\/em><\/li>\n
      • Interface text<\/strong> from the theme and plugins \u2014 button labels, form messages, widget titles \u2014 is
        \nnot part of any post. It lives in WPML String Translation and is translated from its own screen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Checking what was actually sent<\/h2>\n

        If you are not sure whether a field made it into a translation, open AI Translator \u2192 History<\/strong> and
        \npress View<\/strong> in the Request<\/strong> column of that row. It shows exactly what left the site, keyed by
        \nthe name WPML gave each field:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
        Name you will see<\/th>\nWhat it is<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
        title<\/code>, body<\/code>, excerpt<\/code><\/td>\nThe standard post fields.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
        field-<name>-0<\/code><\/td>\nA custom field, named after the key it is stored under.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
        package-string-\u2026<\/code><\/td>\nOne string from a page builder or block.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

        A field missing from that list was never sent \u2014 which sends you back to the two conditions at the top
        \nof this page.<\/p>\n

        There is one row type with nothing to show there: a translation made from Claude or ChatGPT over MCP
        \nnever goes to a provider, so there is no request to look at. Ask the assistant which fields it was
        \ngiven instead \u2014 see Translating from Claude and ChatGPT (MCP)<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        When you send a page for translation, the plugin does not decide what to translate. WPML builds the list, hands it over, and writes the answers\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":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latw-for-wpml"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94","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=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/docs.latw.ai\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}