How do I troubleshoot translation issues?

Question

I am building a WP site using the Panoramica theme by CPOThemes, and so far most of it is working really well. However, not all translations work as they should (or at least not as I expect them to).

Specifically, I can't figure out why the header "Archives" on the main page isn't translated. The site can be found here for you to look at - "Archives" is on the lower right.

This is what I have, that I thought would work:

• a file named /wp-content/languages/sv_SE.po (and .mo) that I have not changed, but I downloaded it and opened in poedit and the key "Archives" exists and is translated correctly.

• The code line that outputs the Archives header in the theme (specifically in sidebar-home.php) looks like this:

  <h3 class="widget-title"><?php _e('Archives', 'cpotheme'); ?></h3>
  

• At the top of my functions.php, I have the following line:

  <?php load_theme_textdomain('cpotheme'); ?>
  

• Somewhere in wp-config.php, I have

  define('WPLANG', 'sv_SE');
  

Why doesn't this translate correctly?

Answer 1

To get 'Archives' translated in your text domain you have to load a theme translation .mo file. The file in /wp-content/languages/sv_SE.po will not be used for that.

• Create a directory languages in your theme.
• Add the translations for the theme to that directory. I recommend the Codestyling Localization plugin for that.

• Load the theme translations with:

  load_theme_textdomain( 'cpotheme', get_template_directory() . '/languages' );
  

See also: List of Default Translated Phrases for a way to inspect the phrases for a given text domain.