How to translate custom field content in a multilingual website?

multilingual WordPress At sites, headings and body text are often the first to be translated, while text in fields is easily overlooked.Custom FieldsKey-value pairs are saved, such as "product description," "download link," "price information," and so on. "If you don't do anything special, these values will remain in the original language after the page language switch. Here are a few common practices to help beginners quickly complete the field translation, the whole text without any code.

I. Custom fields do not follow language switching by default

In WordPress, custom fields are stored as "key-value pairs" where the name of the field remains fixed and the value of the field does not change automatically when you switch languages. For example, if you add a field to a post:

• Name:product_description
• Value: this is a high performance kettle

When the page switches to English, this content is still displayed in Chinese. Unless you fill out a separate copy for the English version, the translated content will not be displayed.

To implement the field contents of thepolyglotsupport, additional tools or methods will be required.

II. Polylang sub-version of input field values (commonly used in lightweight sites)

utilization Polylang free versionWhen the time comes, although it is easy to realize multi-language switching of basic content such as articles, pages, categories, etc., it is inherentlyDoes not have automatic translation of custom field contentfunction. That is, the text in the field does not change automatically with language switching.

However, we can use a "Subversion Editor" approach to implementing multilingual support for fields.

The steps are as follows:

1. Create separate articles for each language orweb pageduplicate
When you create a new article with Polylang, it displays the current language in the sidebar and provides a "+" button, which can be clicked to create a copy of the content in another language.

The content in each language is a separate article or page.

2. Manually filling in custom fields in each copy
Example:

• Adding fields to Chinese articles product_descriptionIt reads, "This is a high-performance kettle."

• The same field is added to English articles product_descriptionThe text should read "This is a high-performance thermos".

Although the fields have the same name, they belong to articles in different languages, so they can be filled with different values, and the front-end display will show the corresponding content according to the current language.

This approach is suitable for sites with a small number of fields and a simple structure. If you upgrade to Polylang Pro, you can use plug-in extensions to accomplish more convenient fieldsrenderingThe

III. Preparing separate field names for different languages (high flexibility)

A more direct approach is also possible:Separate field names for each language. For example, you can create two fields:

• product_description_zh: for storing Chinese descriptions
• product_description_en: for storing English descriptions

When the page is displayed, the corresponding field values are read according to the current language. If the page is in Chinese, it reads the product_description_zh; if the page is in English, read the product_description_en. This approach does not rely on any translation plug-ins, the fields are well structured and the logic is fully controllable.

The advantages of this approach are high flexibility and complete data separation from plugin updates or configurations. You can edit the field values for each language directly in the backend, and it's also convenient for theme templates orpage builderCalls content by language condition.

However, there are some limitations to this approach. As the language type and number of fields increase, the field names multiply and are more cumbersome to maintain. This approach is very practical if the team is small or the number of pages is small. However, in large projects, it is recommended to use it with caution or with automation tools to manage field input.

Four, with ACF plug-ins to achieve structured field translation

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) is a very commonly used field management plugin in WordPress, suitable for adding structured information to a page or post, such as rich text, images, file uploads, drop-down selections, switch buttons and other field types.

When you use a multi-language plugin (such as WPML (or Polylang Pro), ACF Pro can be deeply integrated to provide more complete translation support:

• Support for field group structure consistency across language versions
• Renders the input boxes for each field directly in the translation interface
• Separate field values can be filled in for each language without affecting each other.
• Field content can be automatically switched to display content according to language switching

This approach is particularly suitable for pages that require complex field layouts, such as product detail pages, course introduction pages, thematic content pages, etc. Not only is the operation intuitive, but it is also easy for the team to maintain later.

Compared to manually entering fields or copying articles, this approach is more efficient, with clearer field relationships, and helps maintain consistency in the structure and layout of multilingual content. It is a very practical solution for websites that seek a professional and diverse content structure.

V. Summary

For lightweight sites, use Polylang It is easiest to create a copy of the article and enter the contents of the fields individually. If you want to have more flexibility, you can use the "independent field name" method, which is a little bit higher maintenance but does not rely on plug-ins. For websites with complex structure or many fields, it is recommended to use ACF with WPML or Polylang Pro to realize efficient field translation.

Choosing the right solution based on site size and needs can make multilingual field management clearer and more stable.

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