How to Translate BuddyPress and BuddyBoss Communities in WordPress

Before You Start

Install and activate these plugins:

BuddyBoss Platform or BuddyPress. If you’re running BuddyPress 12.0 or later, also activate the BP Classic add-on.
WPML and WPML String Translation.
WPML Multilingual for BuddyPress and BuddyBoss (the glue add-on this page covers).

Build your community in the source language first. Create the pages BuddyBoss generates: Groups, Members, News Feed, and any custom pages. Define your Profile Types and Group Types in the BuddyBoss admin. Register your custom profile fields. Set up your forums and activity topics. You can edit later and send updates for translation any time.

Translate Everything Automatically Handles This for You

If your site has Translate Everything Automatically turned on, you don’t need to send each part of the community for translation manually. WPML picks up new and updated community content alongside the rest of your site. It translates everything in the background.

The configuration steps below still apply: URL format, making forums translatable, language switcher. The translation step is automatic. The rest of this page describes the manual path for sites on Translate Some: You Choose What to Translate.

Set Your URL Format to “Different Languages in Directories”

WPML Multilingual for BuddyPress and BuddyBoss requires the URL format Different languages in directories (for example, example.com/fr/). Go to WPML > Settings > URLs and SEO and confirm the Language URL format setting.

Translate Your Community’s Default Pages

BuddyPress and BuddyBoss generate a set of default pages: Groups, Members, News Feed, and any community pages you’ve added. Translate them through the Translation Dashboard:

Go to WPML > Translations > Dashboard.
Expand the Pages section.
Tick the community pages.
Choose a translation method. PTC (recommended), your translator, or Translate myself.
Click Translate.

Translate Forums

Forums are a custom post type. Make them translatable first, then translate them:

Go to WPML > Settings > Post Types Translation.
Set Forums to Translatable and click the Save button.
Return to WPML > Translations > Dashboard and translate the forum content from the Forums section.

You can also create separate per-language forums. For example, an English Best Breakfast Ideas forum alongside a French Idées de petit-déjeuner forum. This gives members in different markets their own discussion threads, so their feed doesn’t mix languages. Create them as separate forums and translate each one through the same workflow.

Translate Profile Types and Group Types

Profile Types are BuddyPress Member Types like Student, Instructor, or Mentor. Group Types are BuddyBoss Group Types like Cohort, Chapter, or Region. Both translate through Translation Management:

Go to WPML > Translations > Dashboard.
Profile Types appear in the BuddyPress Profile Type section. Group Types appear in the BuddyBoss Group Type section.
Select the items, choose a translation method, and click Translate.

Translate Custom Profile Fields and Profile Search Filters

Every custom profile field you register through the BuddyBoss admin translates via WPML String Translation. So do the Profile Search filters members use to find each other.

Go to WPML > Translations > Dashboard.
Scroll to Other texts (Strings).
Search for your field labels and option values.
Select them and send for translation.

Translate BuddyBoss Groups

BuddyBoss group names, descriptions, and hierarchies translate through two paths.

From the Translation Dashboard:

Go to WPML > Translations > Dashboard.
Scroll to Other texts (Strings).
Search for the group names.
Select them and send for translation.

From the frontend:

Any user with the correct role can switch to a secondary language and edit a group. The edit applies only to that language. The source language stays untouched. When you edit a translated group, parent-group options display in the language you’re editing in. Hierarchies stay preserved per language.

Translate Activity Topics, Media Albums, and Folders

Activity Topics are the admin-defined topics that organize the News Feed. Media albums and folders are member uploads inside groups. All three translate through the same path:

Go to WPML > Translations > Dashboard.
Scroll to Other texts (Strings).
Search for the topic, album, or folder name.
Select and send for translation.

Keep your BuddyBoss Platform on the current release so these features pick up the translated strings.

Translate Theme Texts

BuddyBoss and BuddyPress theme texts cover the sign-up form, login form, account settings, messages page, profile labels, navigation tabs, and button labels. They translate via WPML String Translation:

Go to WPML > Translations > Dashboard.
Scroll to Other texts (Strings).
Select the theme strings.
Send for translation.

If a theme string doesn’t appear in Other texts (Strings), visit the page that contains it on the frontend. Switch language and navigate the page. WPML auto-discovers the string and adds it to the list on the next admin refresh.

Add a Language Switcher

Members need an obvious way to switch language. WPML places one in the footer by default. To add one in your menus:

Go to WPML > Settings > Language Switchers.
Scroll to Menu language switcher and click Add a new language switcher to a menu.
Configure the appearance and save.

BuddyBoss App – Two Distinct Translation Paths

If you ship a native iOS or Android app built with the BuddyBoss App, the multilingual workflow splits into two distinct paths.

App UI strings – managed inside the BuddyBoss admin (not through WPML). Buttons, labels, prompts, and menus in the native app are managed in BuddyBoss App > Translations in WordPress. Add languages from the 29 built-in language packs. Edit the default translations either in the dashboard or via CSV export and import. Adding a new language requires a new app build. For the full procedure, see BuddyBoss’s app multilingual docs.

App content – translated through WPML on the WordPress side. Pages, posts, courses, and events that the app pulls from WordPress translate through WPML. Use the same workflow you’d use for any post-based content. Translate the content once in WordPress. The app shows the right-language version per the member’s chosen language. BuddyBoss confirms this in their own App FAQ: “for post-based content (pages, posts, courses, events), you may use WPML Plugin that is integrated with BuddyBoss.”

Translate the Rest of Your Community Stack

A BuddyBoss community typically pairs with an LMS, an events plugin, forums, and a payment plugin. Each WPML-compatible companion plugin has its own translation path:

LearnDash LMS. See LearnDash compatibility with WPML.
Tutor LMS Pro. Only the Pro version is supported. See Tutor LMS Pro compatibility with WPML.
The Events Calendar. See The Events Calendar compatibility with WPML.
Modern Events Calendar Lite or Pro. See Modern Events Calendar compatibility with WPML.
bbPress with the bbPress Multilingual glue. See bbPress compatibility with WPML.
WooCommerce with WPML for WooCommerce for paid memberships and checkout. See WPML for WooCommerce.

Every plugin in this list is on WPML’s certified-compatible roster. Building a multilingual community on a verified stack avoids surprises.

Common Pitfalls

The BuddyBoss platform is huge and powerful. It spans website plus native iOS and Android apps, with hundreds of features and dozens of integrations. The WPML and BuddyBoss teams work closely together to keep the multilingual integration aligned with each release.

When something doesn’t translate the way you expect, it’s typically a temporary gap. One of the two teams is usually already tracking it and will ship a fix.

For the current list of known issues with BuddyBoss and WPML and their resolutions, see the BuddyBoss compatibility page on wpml.org. Each issue is listed there with its current status, and resolved ones show the version that fixes them.