String translations or Glossary?
LingoPress has two screens that both talk about translating words, and it’s easy to mix them up:
- String translations translates short texts that appear on your site.
- Glossary gives the AI rules to follow when it translates. On its own, it doesn’t translate anything.
String translations
Section titled “String translations”In LingoPress → String translations you translate short texts that come from your theme or your plugins and aren’t part of your posts: button texts, form labels and similar.
Only the texts your theme or plugins offer for translation appear here. Many themes don’t offer any. If you see Nothing to translate here yet, that’s normal: there’s nothing for you to do on this screen.
If there are texts, you’ll see a table with the Original and a column for each language:
- Write the translation next to each text. If you leave a box empty, your site shows the original.
- Click Save translations.
Two buttons help you:
- ✦ Translate missing with AI fills in all the empty boxes with AI, following your Site context and your Glossary. It saves straight away, so review the result afterwards. It appears when you have an AI connected and at least two languages.
- Remove unused strings deletes the saved translations of texts that your theme or plugins no longer use. It’s useful after changing your theme or removing a plugin.
Glossary
Section titled “Glossary”The Glossary is in LingoPress → AI translation. It’s a list of rules for the AI, one per line:
sentadilla = squatBallesDevword = translationmakes the AI always use that translation.- A word on its own makes the AI leave it untranslated, like your brand name.
The AI follows these rules whenever it translates for you: posts and pages, your theme’s templates and the texts it fills in with ✦ Translate missing with AI. The rules don’t change translations you already have, or what you typed by hand.
Which one do I use?
Section titled “Which one do I use?”| I want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Change a button or form text in another language | String translations |
| Make the AI always translate a word the same way | Glossary |
| Keep my brand name from being translated | Glossary |
| Fix one specific translation that’s already done | Edit that translation directly |
What isn’t translated on either screen
Section titled “What isn’t translated on either screen”- Your menus: they’re translated as explained in Language switcher and menus.
- Widgets: you can choose which language each one appears in, as explained in the same guide.
- Your site’s title and tagline (in Settings → General): LingoPress doesn’t translate them yet.