Machine translation is fantastic for getting a fully translated site in minutes. However, machine learning will not always provide translations like a human would. This is why wpLingua provides you with a translation editor. You can then refine the translations according to your needs. This guide shows you how to achieve this in three different ways.
Option 1: edit translations with the visual editor
This type of editing allows you to visually see the translations displayed on the page and correct them on the fly.
- Visit your website in the translated language.
- You will see that the wpLingua link has transformed into a button.
- Hover over Visual Editor then click on the language to edit.
- When the editor is activated, you will notice that the translation strings are framed. You can click on the string to correct. This will open a popup that allows you to change the translation.
- As soon as you have finished your corrections, you can click on Return on page.
Option 2: edit all translations on the page
You can also open the list of all translations on the current page. This is most useful for editing non-visible translations, such as image alt texts, SEO metadata, etc.
- Choose the language to edit from the wpLingua menu.
- A popup then opens and displays all the translation strings contained in the page. Even those who are invisible.
- You can click on the string to fix using the pen icon.
- As soon as you have finished your corrections, you can click on Return on page.
Option 3: edit all site translations
This is a less recommended method of editing since you will be making corrections outside of the context of the page. But it is nevertheless a possible option.
- In the website administration, go to the wpLingua > All translations tab
- Hover over the translation string to modify and click Edit.
- You can make your changes.
- Save your changes.
- Return to the wpLingua > All translations tab to continue editing.
Traps to avoid
➤ There’s no need to activate your favorite page builder (Divi, Elementor…) to edit translations, it won’t work. The only possible ways to edit a translation are those previously explained in this guide.
➤ The quality of the HTML code in your content can impact the quality of translations. In fact, what determines the translation strings are the HTML tags. So if a word is in bold (placed in a <strong> tag) then it will be translated individually from its context. Surrounding words will also be translated separately. HTML errors also impact translations: some words will not be translated or translated incorrectly if the HTML code is incorrect, if you use non-breaking spaces, double spaces, curved apostrophes, etc.
Look at this example:
- On the left, this is a paragraph with valid HTML
- You can view the HTML code if necessary
- When you switch to wpLingua’s visual editor on the page to correct the translations, you will notice that they are of fairly good quality and that only one translation string has been generated (represented by the arrow).
- On the right of the screenshot, it is the same paragraph, but the HTML code is wrong.
- If you look closely at the HTML code, it has errors: double spaces, curved apostrophes, etc.
- These code errors result in word-for-word translations, translation errors as well as untranslated words. This is why it is very important to check your HTML code if you get problems like this. Also, the numerous HTML tag changes will generate numerous translation strings represented here by the arrows.
