FAQ: Why is WooCommerce still showing English?

WooCommerce have published their own guide to Translating WooCommerce. If you haven't read this guide already, then we recommend you do so. It includes a section on using Loco Translate, but there are other methods described too.

A lot of WooCommerce users report translation problems on our forum. We can't keep posting the same replies, so please try to find your solution from the information below:

Your theme may override translations

The problem you're having may not be with WooCommerce at all, but with your theme.

Some WooCommerce-compatible themes may appear to use WooCommerce translations, but in fact use their own copy. In these cases translating the WooCommerce plugin may leave some or all of your site translations in English. This is the most common of all WooCommerce translation problems we've seen.

If a plugin translation isn't showing, check your theme isn't using its own version of the same string. You can do that by finding the theme in Loco Translate and looking for a duplicate in its translation template (assuming it has one). If the string is in there then add your language to the theme and translate that.

Translations working, but then reverting back to English

This problem isn't specific to WooCommerce, but has often been asked by WooCommerce users.

The answer is that you should not save custom translations in folders that are managed by WordPress auto-updates. They may get overwritten. See our FAQ Why have my translations files been deleted?.

Using WooCommerce's safe folder

We generally recommend custom translations are saved in Loco Translate's safe folder, but this doesn't always work and in the case of WooCommerce there is a better option.

WooCommerce offers its own safe location at wp-content/languages/woocommerce. This folder is officially supported by WooCommerce and doesn't depend on Loco Translate for file loading. This makes it the best location for custom translation files.

WooCommerce's own localization guide doesn't mention that you can use Loco Translate to save files in this location. You can, but you have to set it up.

• The quick way is to click the Advanced tab and add ../../languages/woocommerce to the Domain Path field.

• Alternatively load our full WooCommerce configuration by selecting the Setup tab and clicking "Import config from XML". Copy the XML from this link to your clipboard, paste it into the text box and click "Load config". This should now show "Bundle configuration saved".

With the bundle fully configured you will be offered this safe location as "Other" when adding new language files. Note that existing files will not be moved.