How to update the language used by wordpress from a plugin

This questions was already asked half a year ago:

“Switch language by the click of a button”

The result of it can now be found as a plugin maintained by @StephenHarris and me.

WCM User Language Switcher

It also got a place in the official repo. The development version can be found in our wecodemore GitHub account.

What the plugin does:

  • It adds a user setting for the language, so each user can chose his own.
  • As this is user meta, it can be used elsewhere (plugins) as well
  • The toolbar drop down only features installed/uploaded languages
  • Uses the full ISO 639-2 palette to find languages
  • Even translates the language into their native equivalent when the language was switched

It’s extremely easy to use. Just install, upload your languages and go.

Here’s how the plugin looks in action.

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As there was no complete list of ISO 639-2 language codes that features the native as well as the English language string, we pulled that generated list out of our project and offer it open sourced on GitHub as separate repository.

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