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Method One of Four: Changing the Default Language on WordPress 4
1 Use this method for WordPress version 4. If you have updated your site"s WordPress since September 4, 2014, the site will be running WordPress version 4 or later. Earlier versions of WordPress require a different, somewhat more complicated method described in its own section below. Also, this method is for blogs that use WordPress software, but are hosted on a third- party server. If your blog contains ".wordpress.com" in the title, refer to the wordpress.com method below instead. If you don"t remember when you updated, visit (yoursitename).com/readme.html and look near the top of the page for a WordPress version number.
2 Download a WordPress language file. WordPress has been translated into many languages. Each translation has a file ending in the extension ".mo".
You can get these files by locating the desired language on this list, clicking "More" on the same line, then clicking "Download language pack." If you do not see a download link, the translation may be [1]incomplete or not updated to WordPress v4. 3
Identify the correct file. If the language pack has multiple ".mo" files, look up the language code, as well as the country code if the language is spoken in multiple countries. The file name will always follow the format languagecode.mo or [2]languagecode_COUNTRYCODE.mo. For example, en.mo is a generic English language translation. en_GB.mo is an English translation using Great Britain regional spelling.
4 Locate or create a /languages folder in your site directory. Go to the /wp-content directory on your WordPress site"s server. If there is not already a folder called /languages, create one with exactly that name.
5 Upload the file to your /languages folder.
Upload the .mo file corresponding to the desired language into your /languages folder. If you have never uploaded files to your server before, you will
need to use an FTP client, or the file management
system provided by your hosting service. WordPress
recommends FileZilla for Windows, or [3]CyberDuck
for Mac. 6 Change the language in the admin
settings. Log into your site as an administrator. Click
Settings→general→Site Language. Select the language
option corresponding to the .mo file you just
uploaded. The selected language should now be
your site"s default language. Advertisement
Method Two of Four: Changing the Default Language
in WordPress 3.9.2 or Earlier
1 Download the language files. You can get the
language files you need from the WordPress in Your
Language web page. The file will have a name such
as in the following example: fr_FR.mo. The first two
small characters (‘fr’ for French) refer to the the
ISO-639 language code. This is followed by the
ISO-3166 country code (_FR for France in the
example). So, the French .mo file would be called fr_
FR.mo. 2 Copy Language files to your WordPress
Installation. Once you have downloaded the
correct /mo file to your computer, copy it to your
server in the directory ‘wp-content/languages’. You
will probably need to create the ‘languages’ directory
if you installed WordPress in English. 3 Modify the
wp-config. file. In the root directory of your
WordPress installation is a file named ‘wp-config.’.
This file includes all of the setting to allow you to
connect to the database and manage a few other
items. Download the file and open it up in your Text
Editor application. 4 Edit the language line. Inside the
‘wp-config.’ file, you will see the following lines:
define ("WPLANG", ); You will need to change this to
use the file you just copied to your server. If using
the example for French above, you would edit the
like to look like the following: define ("WPLANG", "fr_
FR"); 5 Visit your Admin Dashboard with your web
browser. Your blog should now be displayed in the
language you desired. Advertisement
Method Three of Four: Using Plugins for New
Language Settings
1 Learn how to install plugins. WordPress plugins
alter your WordPress site beyond the default
settings. They must be downloaded from the
WordPress plugin directory. Most plugins can be
installed automatically from the directory, but you
can also install them yourself by uploading the entire
folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory of your
site. Once uploaded, activate the plugin [4]using the
Plugins menu on your WordPress site. Make sure to
uncompress the file after downloading it, if your
browser does not do this automatically. 2 Use a
plugin to install new languages. The WP Native
Dashboard plugin gives you the ability to download
language files and install them through an easy user
interface. However, this is only compatible with
WordPress 2.7 through 3.61. The download interface
may require direct write access to your server,
which some site hosts do not allow. [5] 3 Install a
multilingual plugin. If you"d like to write a blog in
more than one language, a multilingual plugin can
make your life much easier. However, since they
alter the way blog posts are created, it can take
some time to learn to use them without [6]breaking
your site. Creating a new site just for testing is
recommended while you are learning. Here are a
few options: Bogo or Polylang are free options. The
two interfaces are quite different, so if you don"t like
one, deactivate it and try the other. WPML needs to
be purchased, but comes with full support if you
need assistance. 4 Look for other plugins. There are
thousands of plugins available, so you can always
search for what you"re looking for. This may be
useful if you are looking for a function or option that
is specific to your language, such as converting one
alphabet or script into another. Advertisement
Method Four of Four: Changing Language in a
WordPress.com Blog
1 Use this method for WordPress-hosted blogs. If
your blog"s URL is "(yourblogname) .wordpress.com",
WordPress is your server host as well as the
software your blog runs on. In this case, it is very
easy to change your language settings as described
below. 2 Change the language you write in. Log in
to your WordPress account and visit your blog"s
dashboard. Click Settings in the left-hand pane, then
select the language you plan to write in using the
drop-down [7]menu. If you do not know how to
access your dashboard or you cannot find the
settings button, log in to your WordPress account,
then navigate to " (yourblogname).wordpress.com/
wp-admin/options-general. ." 3 Change the interface
language. If you would like the settings, alerts, and
other user interface messages to be depicted in
another language, click Users on the left hand pane,
then click Personal Settings on the short list that
appears beneath it. Find the "Interface language"
option and select your language from the drop-down
menu. Both language settings include a link to the
other one directly beneath the option, making it
easy to switch between interface language options
and blog writing language options.
