When you translate a property, the plugin must remember that the English and the French version are the same listing in two languages. This article explains, in plain words, how WPEstate Translate links translations together on a multi-language real estate website, and what that means when you edit or delete content.

One Original, Several Translations

Think of a family: one original and its translations.

• Each language version is a normal WordPress post with its own ID, title, content, images and custom fields.
• One post is the original. It is the post you translated from, usually in the default language.
• The original keeps the list of its translations, one post per language. Each translation stores its language and points back to the original.
• A family holds only one post type: a property family holds properties, a page family holds pages.

The links are saved in the custom fields of the posts themselves. Your content is not copied anywhere else.

How a Translation Is Linked

1. Publish the property in the default language.
2. Click Add fr in the language column of the list, or Add French translation in the editor. WPEstate Translate creates a French draft, copies the content and fields into it, and links it to the original.
3. Add the other languages the same way. Each new draft joins the same family.

When a language already has a translation, the list shows View fr instead of Add fr.

The full workflow is in Translating Posts and Pages.

Which Version Visitors See

When a visitor opens a page in another language, or clicks the language switcher, the plugin looks up the family member for that language:

Situation	What the visitor gets
The translation exists and is published	The translation
There is no translation, or it is still a draft	The original

Deleting Posts and Terms

You delete	Result
A translation, permanently	It leaves the family. You can add that language again.
A translation, to the trash	It keeps its place in the family. To add a new one for that language, restore it or delete it permanently first.
The original, while it has translations	It can go to the trash, but it cannot be deleted permanently while a translation is still outside the trash. Delete or trash the translations first. Empty Trash then removes them together.
An original category, city or other term	Its translations are deleted with it.

To remove every translation of one language at once, see Cache Purge and Reset Tools.

Categories, Cities and Other Terms

Terms work the same way: the original term keeps its translations, and each translated term stores its language. Terms can also be linked by hand. Open the translated term, pick its language, and choose the original in Source term. Choosing None removes the link. Details: Taxonomy Translation.

Sites Started on an Older Version

Older versions of the plugin saved the links in a separate plugin table. WPEstate Translate still reads those links, so nothing breaks after an update. The next time you add a translation to such a family, its links are saved in the posts like any new family.

Reset Translation Settings empties that older table, so families that were never updated lose their links. Take a backup before a reset.

Common Questions

Question	Answer
Can I link two posts I created separately?	Not for posts. Create the translation with Add, move the content over, then delete the extra post. Terms can be linked with Source term.
Can a post belong to two families?	No. A post belongs to one family, and a family has one post per language.
Can I make a translation the new original?	No. The post you translated from stays the original.

More: Where Your Translations Live. For developers: Translation Linking.