Polylang the two Home startpage language problem

Working with Polylang language switcher plugin in WordPress, one problem often overlooked, is that the new start page dedicated for the second language have to be filled with content.

Sounds very obvious, right? Now, maybe you just like myself says: ”I have already created a Swedish home start page as well as an English language home start page”. Well both yes and no.

Yes, I did already have my default Swedish Start home page set-up, because it was already in use on my website. And that was before I decided to install the multi-language plugin from Polylag altogether. But I forgot that detail, my default start page for the second language, was not the one Polylang plugin sort of automatically created for me in WordPress.

Therefore, when I checked my website and tried out the language switcher, it didnt work. It shown a blank page.

In fact the Polylang language switcher just continued to open the correct page – yes, the correct page – but with nothing in it. It was blank. Just like a blank sheet of paper. Confusing? Understandable.

The solution to the problem, was – and is – to go to the WordPress Dashboard Admin page and look for Pages. And among the pages look for the assigned startpage – in my case the Swedish language start page. And beneath it I found one page with a similar name with an additional ”English” prefix attached to it. Which read Startpage.

So if you have the issue, open that page, the second language page with prefix startpage.

For convenience I alwasy go the page at hand when logged in, and the click ”edit page”. Open the start page you originally created. Go to code view/Code Editor in the wordpress right pane. Your page should now show your page in code view. Select all and choose Ctrl+C on your keyboard to Copy.

Go back your new start page for your second language. Choose Code view/Code Editor. Now paste it all in there. by pressing Ctrl+V on your keyboard. Dont forget to click ”Save” blue button.

It should now work as expected with the menu/language switcher.

Stefan Lindblad