Use LearnDash in ANY Language

By: Justin Ferriman • June 4, 2013
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October 13, 2015: The step-by-step instructions for translating LearnDash have been updated. Customers should reference this article.

One of the great things about WordPress is that it is used by different cultures all over the world.  That being the case, there is a real need for the themes and plugins to be internationalized so that they can be easily translated to other languages.  Today, I am very pleased to announce that the LearnDash code has now been internationalized – making it easy for anyone to translate the plugin into their native language!

Now, no matter what language you need to delivery your courses, lessons, and quizzes – LearnDash enables you to do so quite easily – simply follow the steps below:

1. To create your .po and .mo files (the files needed for translations), there is a really good plugin called “Codestyling Localization” – download and install this plugin. Once installed and activated, you can find the plugin options under the tools > Localization menu.

2. To create a new language search for your plugin in the Codestyling Localization menu and press the “Add new language” button. This will create an empty .po file for the translation.

3. To get the texts to translate press the “Rescan” button of the language. That will scan your plugin files looking for texts. When Codestyling Localization scan your files search for that function and put all the texts in the .po file. Then press the Edit button so you can start translating.

4. When you are finished, you need to compile your .po file into a .mo file to be understandable for WordPress. You have a “generate mo-file” button inside the Edit section.

When you have all the files, the plugin will show the texts in the language that WordPress uses. So if you have your WordPress in Spanish, all the texts shown will be Spanish.

That’s it – happy translating!

[Note: If you are a customer and wish to donate your translation to the LearnDash community, please contact us and we’ll give you proper credit :)]

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter