Plugin translations not installed but… strings are translated!

Yes, Recent Tweets Widget is one of the many plugins which their translations are managed through translate.wordpress.org, and this means that upon installing the plugin (*remember, installing and activating are different), WordPress (on your site) will automatically download the plugin’s language pack (.po and .mo files) from translate.wordpress.org, and then store the translation files in the WordPress languages directory which defaults to wp-content/languages.

But WordPress will only do that if a core/site language pack is found at wp-content/languages/<locale>.mo (see get_available_languages()), which in your case should be true — e.g. you might find the MO file at wp-content/languages/es_ES.mo.

And for plugins, the downloaded language packs are saved to wp-content/languages/plugins/<locale>.<mo|po>; so for example, the Recent Tweets Widget plugin where the text domain is recent-tweets-widget, you’d find the translations for the Spanish (Spain) locale (es_ES) in:

  • wp-content/languages/plugins/recent-tweets-widget-es_ES.mo
  • wp-content/languages/plugins/recent-tweets-widget-es_ES.po

Also, it should be noted that since WordPress 4.6, language pack found in the wp-content/languages/plugins directory takes precedence over the one in the plugin’s directory — which is normally loaded via load_plugin_textdomain() — so with the Recent Tweets Widget plugin as an example, if you had both wp-content/languages/plugins/recent-tweets-widget-es_ES.mo and wp-content/plugins/recent-tweets-widget/languages/recent-tweets-widget-es_ES.mo, the former will be automatically loaded and be used instead of the latter.

Hence, I believe that MO file is the source of that “ghost” translation. 🙂

(Well if your site’s locale is es_ES, but even if not, try looking for one of the other Spanish locales. Then try renaming the file, e.g. <locale>.mo.bak, and see if the “ghost” translation persists.)

Last but not least, when a plugin is deleted (and not simply deactivated), WordPress will also remove the plugin translation files in the wp-content/languages/plugins, so keep that in mind if you wish to edit those files/translations.

Further Reading

Related Posts:

  1. .mo translation strings not loading in PHP scripts that handle AJAX calls
  2. Translations only load from `wp-content/languages/plugins` but not from the plugin’s languages folder
  3. Translation not working for Constant strings in Plugin
  4. Load textdomain from global languages directory
  5. How to make a WordPress plugin translation ready?
  6. How to provide translations for a WordPress TinyMCE plugin?
  7. Is There A Hook To Process The Content Of The Text Widget?
  8. translation does not work with text_domain
  9. Problems with localization
  10. Multiple textdomains
  11. How does gettext works for translating readme file of plugin?
  12. `wp_set_script_translations` with `wp.i18n` does not return translated strings in simple plugin
  13. Can’t we use strings defined as PHP constants if we want to translate them in a plugin?
  14. WordPress: After Gutenberg plugin migration to block.json the localization/ translations with PolyGlot in JavaScript does not work anymore
  15. use __($str) to translate strings (symfony/twig)
  16. Plugin Localization
  17. Is it possible to check is loaded language files correctly with WordPress plugin?
  18. Translate strings not recognised in plugin
  19. How to i18n text coming from the db or from an external source
  20. Should I always prefer esc_attr_e & esc_html_e instead of _e?
  21. Should shorcodes in i18n plugins be translated and if so, how?
  22. Widget translation on my plugin
  23. Generate JSON files for language translation from po file without wp-cli i18n make-json
  24. Build a translation correcter plugin
  25. Translation per IP location [closed]
  26. Translate slug in WPMU with PO files
  27. Translate MCE button text/tooltip in custom plugin
  28. esc_html__() and __() not working within arrays
  29. How to prevent someone from entering strings without making it available for translation?
  30. Readme.txt seems to be cached but not the version
  31. Return Value of load_plugin_textdomain
  32. Translate javascript with WordPress built-in localization API for static strings
  33. Plugin language always shows WP site language, not profile language
  34. Is hint for translator compulsory while internationalizing a string containing variables?
  35. Translating plugin settings page – dropdown list
  36. Make dynamic string translatable
  37. Using HTML links within translatable string
  38. How to translate wordpress backend to another language
  39. Borrowing of Previously Translated Strings by Child Plugin
  40. Include external po file for 3th party plugin to theme
  41. HTML Elements in my WP Plugin being generated in JS. Security and Translated Text Question about this method being used
  42. Load custom translation in custom plugin fails
  43. Add language localisation to javascript alert?
  44. How to store in the database directly the translation?
  45. Plugin translation not being displayed
  46. Problem with Poedit [closed]
  47. How to translate WP plugin name?
  48. get the queried_object of an url
  49. Save translation file of third party plugin in a custom plugin?
  50. Post meta vs separate database tables
  51. How to add a javascript snippet to the footer that requires jQuery
  52. Enhance Media Manager for Gallery
  53. Adding Custom Text Patterns in the WP 4.5 Visual Editor
  54. How to use PanelColorSettings in custom Gutenberg block?
  55. Is there a way for a plug-in to get it’s own version number?
  56. How to add tab which is visible only in admin side of product in woocommerce? [closed]
  57. How do I print a notice only on certain admin pages?
  58. Hook the Keydown Event in the TinyMCE Post Editor
  59. Create a clickable name in WP_List_Table for Plugin Admin
  60. Plugin development without Theme adjustments?
  61. How to Make a Category Always Selected?
  62. WordPress Settings API: saving multiple rows of similar data
  63. Modify how gallery.js builds the shortcode [gallery ...] in tinyMCE?
  64. DataBase connection problem with PHPUnit and WordPress
  65. Plugin settings not saving
  66. Registering and using actions which return results in a Plugin class
  67. Is there a way to ensure plugin script loads before another script?
  68. Verify if user is wordpress logged in from another app since wordpress 4.0
  69. When is the proper time to minify css and js with git workflow?
  70. how to invoke wordpress API from other existing PHP system
  71. How to get the post excerpt using post object?
  72. jquery & ajax sending data to php
  73. How to import the css in the plugin admin area?
  74. What’s the impact on WordPress’ performance regarding the amount of classes/files in a plugin?
  75. Using add_sub_menu to put into Appearance Section
  76. jquery in wordpress plugin with depdendency
  77. Replace first occurence of a word with link [closed]
  78. wordpress automatic update does not run
  79. Ajax +wordpress onClick link redirect to new page and create html content
  80. Adding filter to the title without affecting the menu title
  81. Script to replace default blogroll with links to my social media URLs
  82. How to show multiple instances of the WP125 Widget?
  83. Posts form with AJAX request – Plugin development
  84. Want to know how to reveal a WordPress theme, considering the theme name is hidden?
  85. Where to add functions and code snippets in wordpress
  86. How to re-render inspector controls?
  87. Sanitize WordPress Array Input?
  88. WC REST API Error Handling
  89. Creating a virtual page without exit
  90. Plugin Development – Call to undefined function comment_exists()
  91. Custom post type translation
  92. Allow user to change homepage
  93. WP internationalization not loaded
  94. wp_mail links are dead
  95. Get custom wp_query search results to appear on search.php
  96. Is it safe to use PUT and DELETE requests
  97. Multi-part form and wp_redirect()
  98. Sharing changes to a post (preview changes) with another user
  99. Advanced Custom Fields conflicting with custom plugin when saving custom field
  100. How to get recent one post from each category on home page?