Separate WordPress Back-end language from front-end language

[Marc4]

WordPress should offer the native option to have a back-end in a different language than the front-end language.

Level 2 Context of the proposal

Many people write in WordPress for a different language audience than their native or preferred language. These people would appreciate being able to have the back-end in their native or preferred language, without affecting the front-end language, which is who the content is intended for.

Level 2 Its not currently allowed in WordPress?

Yes, but it is not accessible and confuses the user, and can cause problems with search engine indexing, etc. In addition, the user must request permission from an administrator in order to use WordPress in their language.

Level 2 Why?

Currently, when an administrator user selects a language from "Site Language" (Settings > General), the selected language affects the front-end of the site and the back-end. So if the website owner, who is Spanish, decides to set the "Site Language" to Spanish, but his website is focused on an English audience, we have a problem. The texts and the html lang tag of the site change to es_ES indicating to crawlers and search engines that the content is Spanish, when in fact the content is in English. In addition it will have mixed content in Spanish and English, because the theme texts will change to Spanish.

Level 2 How is it currently solved?

If the owner of this website wants the back-end language to be different from the front-end language he has to change the language for his user in "Users > Your user > Language". But he can only do this autonomously if he is an administrator user.

A non-admin user can only select a language if he has previously been logged in (Settings > General) by an admin user, as only admin users can access (Settings).

Level 2 Does having separate languages solve all this?

Yes. Having separate languages would allow any non-admin role to select their language for the back-end without having to ask an admin to activate the language. Although you will probably have to wait for packages to be downloaded, manually or automatically. perhaps this could be improved?

For accessibility reasons it makes more sense to have the language settings in one place, rather than having one in "Settings > General" and another in "Users > Your user > Language".

Making it clear that one language affects the front-end and another affects the back-end is logical, clear and avoids problems and confusion, both for experienced and inexperienced users.

Level 2 What would this look like?

In the attached image.

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I have created this ticket separately from #58105 and from #49971 because although both tickets have the same purpose, which is to separate languages for back-end and front-end, I think the approach is different and deserves a new approach. Especially in accessibility issues.

[oglekler]

Hi @Marc4,

Working with sites on different languages I am changing my Dashboard language all the time, and don't have problems with this, even where I have only Editors rights I have this ability.

Please, check this and write if this solving your problem:

​https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/users-your-profile-screen/

"Language – You can select the language you wish to use while using the Administration Screen without affecting the language site visitors see."

This way is much more flexible that to limit all admin's users to use one language, and we have it already.

[Marc4]

Hi Olga,

Working with sites on different languages I am changing my Dashboard language all the time, and don't have problems with this, even where I have only Editors rights I have this ability.

As an editor user you can only select a language that was previously "activated" by an administrator user. If an administrator does not activate this language in advance, the language selector in "Profile > Language" simply does not show this language for an editor user.

It would be much more logical, from my point of view, for an administrator to have the language selection for back-end and front-end in one place, not one option under "Settings > General" and the other under "Users > Your user > Language". Especially for new and end-users.

​https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/users-your-profile-screen/ "Language – You can select the language you wish to use while using the Administration Screen without affecting the language site visitors see."

Yes, in the proposal I mention that this is the only way to do it at present, but I think it can be improved. I think the "Site" and "Dashboard/User" language selection should be in the same place, not in different places.

A user changes the language in "Site Language" and is not aware that he is changing the front-end as well. Having the option to change only "Dashboard Language" avoids many problems.

Also, we are assuming that a new and end-user knows that to change the language of his dashboard he has to go to "Users > Your user > Language".

This way is much more flexible that to limit all admin's users to use one language, and we have it already.

If the "Dashboard Language" selector for admin users (I emphasize that an admin user does not have to be a technical profile), assigns the dashboard language for that admin user, independently, it does not force any other admin user to have a language they do not want, since each admin user can have their own language, they just do not have to go to specify it somewhere other than where the site's language selector is currently located. Which makes it clearer, less confusing, avoids generating problems and is more accessible. In my opinion.

[Marc4]

I can edit the responses but I can't edit the ticket. I would like to make some clarifications and clean up some errors in the text, and I can't find the edit option.

[swissspidy]

This is still the same issue as #49971, albeot with a different explanation / use case. Let‘s keep the discussion at one place.