How to Change WordPress Language
To change the WordPress language, open Settings → General, pick a language under Site Language and save. WordPress downloads the language pack and switches the dashboard and translated theme strings. Each user can also choose their own dashboard language in Profile. Your posts and pages stay in the language you wrote them.
For site owners and agencies switching a WordPress dashboard to Hindi or another language, or planning a Hindi plus English site.
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- Read time
- 5 min
- Sections
- 10
- Updated
- 14 Nov 2026
- Written by
- WebJi® team
Last editorial update: 14 November 2026.
How do you change the WordPress site language?
Go to Settings → General, choose a language in Site Language, and click Save Changes; WordPress downloads that language pack and switches the dashboard and any translated theme and plugin strings. The admin area changes first, and the front end follows only where translations exist.
- Log in to wp-admin and open Settings → General.
- Find Site Language near the bottom of the page.
- Choose हिन्दी (Hindi) or another language; type in the list to filter it.
- Click Save Changes. If the pack is not already on the server, WordPress fetches it from wordpress.org.
- Reload any admin page. The left menu and buttons now show the new language.
Language packs are saved in wp-content/languages. If the list offers no new languages or the save fails, the server cannot reach wordpress.org or cannot write to that folder — a hosting check, not a WordPress bug.
Can one user see the dashboard in a different language?
Yes: since WordPress 4.7, each user can pick a dashboard language under Users → Profile → Language, independent of the site language. Leave it on "Site Default" unless that person wants something else.
This is the right setting when an owner or editor prefers Hindi while the public site stays in English. Their menus change; visitors see nothing different. Agencies handing over a site often set the owner's profile to Hindi and leave the site language as English.
What does changing the language translate, and what does it not?
The language setting translates the strings WordPress, themes and plugins ship with — menus, buttons, labels and messages — but never your posts, pages or product descriptions. A site with English content still reads English to visitors after you switch the dashboard to Hindi.
| Layer | Where it is set | What it affects |
|---|---|---|
| Site language | Settings → General | Interface strings and the lang attribute in page HTML |
| User language | Users → Profile | That person's dashboard only |
| Content language | The editor | Whatever words you wrote |
Content is translated by writing it again in the second language, or with a multilingual plugin that stores a second version of each page.
Why do some words stay in English after switching to Hindi?
Words stay in English when the theme or plugin that prints them has no Hindi translation for those strings; this is normal and not a caching fault. Check the theme or plugin's project on translate.wordpress.org to see how complete the Hindi translation is.
To fill the gaps, translate the missing strings with a plugin such as Loco Translate and save the custom .po and .mo files in a protected location (Loco offers a "custom" folder) or in a child theme, so a theme update does not wipe them. If labels still look old after translating, clear the WordPress cache.
How do you change the WordPress language with WP-CLI?
With SSH access, run wp language core install hi_IN --activate to install and switch to Hindi in one step; Hindi's WordPress locale code is hi_IN. WP-CLI is faster than the dashboard when you manage several sites.
# Install the Hindi core pack and make it the site language
wp language core install hi_IN --activate
# Or switch to an already-installed language
wp site switch-language hi_IN
# Install Hindi packs for all plugins and themes that have them
wp language plugin install --all hi_IN
wp language theme install --all hi_IN
# Check which languages are installed and active
wp language core list --status=activeOlder tutorials say to set WPLANG in wp-config.php. That constant applied only up to WordPress 3.9.x; current versions store the site language as a database option, which is why editing wp-config.php or a theme file no longer changes it.
How do you run Hindi and English on the same site?
One WordPress install has one site language, so two public languages need a multilingual plugin that stores both versions and gives each its own URL. The Hindi plus English WordPress guide walks through the full setup.
- Polylang: free core version, clean language paths such as
/hi/. - WPML: paid, with translation management and WooCommerce support.
- TranslatePress: translates on the rendered page; quick to start, heavier under load.
Whichever you pick, write the Hindi pages in Hindi rather than publishing a raw machine translation of the English.
Does changing the WordPress language affect SEO?
Changing the site language alters the page's lang attribute and interface text, but rankings depend on content and links, so the setting alone does not move rankings. What matters for a bilingual site is separate URLs per language.
Give the Hindi and English versions of each page their own URL, link them to each other with hreflang tags (multilingual plugins add these), and write a distinct title and meta description in each language. A page that swaps language by cookie on one URL is a single page to Google and usually ranks for one language only.
Hindi sites need no special server: Devanagari is ordinary UTF-8 text, and they run on the same WordPress hosting as English sites. WebJi® email support answers in Hindi and English, 24/7, with an average first reply under 60 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Hindi missing from the Site Language list?
The list shows installed packs plus those WordPress can download. If Hindi is missing, the server cannot reach wordpress.org or the wp-content/languages folder is not writable. Fix permissions or ask the host, or upload the pack via WP-CLI.
Will a WordPress update undo my language setting?
No. The site language is stored in the database and survives core, theme and plugin updates. Updates also refresh the translation packs automatically. Only custom translations saved inside a parent theme folder can be overwritten.
Does the WooCommerce shop also switch to Hindi?
WooCommerce's own labels, such as cart and checkout text, switch where its Hindi translation is complete. Your product names and descriptions stay in the language you typed them, and payment-gateway plugins depend on their own translations.
Can I type Hindi content in an English dashboard?
Yes. Content language and dashboard language are independent. Type or paste Devanagari into the block editor with any Hindi keyboard; WordPress stores it as UTF-8 regardless of the interface language.
Commands checked against the WP-CLI language command reference on 14 November 2026 · Reviewed by the WebJi® team, Jaipur.
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