How to Localize Any WordPress Theme (Even If You Are Not a Developer)

You just bought the perfect premium WordPress theme. It looks great, the layout is perfect, and it fits your brand. You install it, upload your content, and...

"Read More" "Leave a Comment" "404 Page Not Found"

Your content is in Italian, but these hardcoded theme buttons are stubbornly stuck in English. It looks unprofessional and confuses your users.

If you are not a coder, your first instinct might be to hire a developer or try to edit the PHP files yourself (please don't do this!).

The good news? You don't need to touch a single line of code. WordPress themes use a standard system for translation. In this guide, we will show you exactly how to translate those English strings into your language in 5 minutes.

The Secret File: What is a .pot?

Every good WordPress theme (Astra, Divi, Avada, etc.) comes with a special file hidden in its folder. It is called a .pot file (Portable Object Template).

Think of this file as a "catalog" of every English word used in the theme's code.

• "Submit Search"
• "Posted by"
• "No results found"

To translate your theme, you don't edit the theme. You simply take this catalog, translate the words, and save it as a new file that WordPress can read.

Step 1: Find the File

You will need to access your site's files. You can use an FTP client (like FileZilla) or the "File Manager" in your hosting control panel (cPanel).

1. Navigate to: /wp-content/themes/your-theme-name/
2. Look for a folder named languages or lang.
3. Inside, you should see a file ending in .pot (e.g., astra.pot or en_US.pot).

Download this file to your computer.

Step 2: The Translation (The Easy Way)

Now you have the file. How do you translate it?

The Old Way (Hard): You download a desktop software called PoEdit. You install it, open the file, manually type the translation for every single line (themes can have 2,000+ lines!), and save it.

The New Way (Easy): Use SimplePoTranslate.

1. Go to SimplePoTranslate.com.
2. Upload the .pot file you just downloaded.
3. Select your target language (e.g., Italian).
4. Click "Translate."

Our AI will scan the file. It understands context (so "Post" is translated as an article, not a fence pole). Crucially, it locks the code. If the theme has a line like Posted by %s, our AI ensures the %s remains safe so your author name still appears correctly.

Step 3: Naming the File Correctly

This is the only tricky part. When you download your translated file, you need to name it exactly right, or WordPress won't see it.

The format is: theme-domain + - + locale_code + .mo

1. Find the Locale Code: For Italian, it is it_IT. For German, de_DE.
2. Find the Theme Domain: Usually, this is just the folder name of your theme (e.g., astra, divi, oceanwp).

So, if you are translating the Astra theme into Italian, your file must be named: astra-it_IT.mo

(Note: SimplePoTranslate provides both .po and .mo files. You strictly need the .mo file for the site to work, but keep the .po file if you want to edit it later.)

Step 4: Upload and Finish

Go back to your File Manager.

Do NOT upload it back to the theme folder. Why? Because if the theme updates next week, it will delete the entire folder and replace it. Your translation will be deleted forever.

Instead, upload it here: /wp-content/languages/themes/

This is the "Global Safe Folder." WordPress checks here first. Files in this folder are never deleted during theme updates.

Once you upload the file (astra-it_IT.mo) to that folder, refresh your website. Instantly, "Read More" becomes "Leggi tutto".

You Just Saved $100

That is exactly what a developer would have charged you for one hour of work. You did it yourself in minutes without writing code.

Whether you have a massive e-commerce theme or a simple blog, the process is always the same.

Need to translate a theme file right now? Try our Free Tier. It’s safer and faster than doing it manually.

Start for free at SimplePoTranslate.com