Troubleshooting Common Polylang and Events Plugin Conflicts

Many WordPress users rely on Polylang to create multilingual sites and event plugins like Events Manager, EventON, or The Events Calendar to manage their calendars. However, integrating these two powerful types of plugins can sometimes lead to unexpected issues. Based on common community reports, this guide addresses the most frequent conflicts and how to resolve them.

Common Symptoms of Polylang and Events Plugin Conflicts

Users often experience one or more of the following problems:

• Events for a secondary language do not appear in calendar shortcode lists, especially when AJAX loading is enabled.
• Generated event pages (which are not standard WordPress pages) show the menu or other site elements from the default language instead of the correct translated version.
• SEO-related issues, such as duplicate meta descriptions, appear because the event page's metadata is not being translated.

Why Do These Conflicts Happen?

The root cause typically lies in how the plugins interact with WordPress's core functionality.

• Query Modification: Polylang works by modifying the main WordPress query (WP_Query) to filter and display content in the correct language. Some event plugins, particularly when using AJAX requests for dynamic loading, might bypass or run a separate query that does not include Polylang's language parameters. This results in events from all languages being fetched or, conversely, events from a specific language not being found.
• Dynamic Content: Event pages are often generated on the fly by the event plugin and are not standard WordPress posts or pages. Polylang's language-switching logic, which is designed for standard content, may not automatically apply to these dynamically generated URLs or their components (like menus).
• Third-Party Integration: The event plugin may not be explicitly coded to be compatible with Polylang's method of handling languages, leading to a lack of integration points for metadata, menus, or other translatable elements on those special pages.

How to Troubleshoot and Resolve These Issues

1. Disable AJAX Loading in the Event Plugin

This is one of the most common fixes. If events for a secondary language are missing from calendars or lists, the issue is frequently tied to AJAX.

• Action: Locate the settings in your event plugin (e.g., EventON, Events Calendar) for its calendar shortcodes or views. Look for an option labeled "Enable AJAX loading," "Dynamic Refreshing," or similar and disable it.
• Why it works: Disabling AJAX forces the page to load the event data through the standard WordPress page load process, which Polylang can successfully filter. AJAX calls sometimes execute a separate query outside of Polylang's scope.

2. Configure Language-Specific Menus for All URLs

If your event pages show the wrong language's menu, the problem is often that the event URL is not being recognized as belonging to a specific language.

• Action: Within the Polylang settings, go to Languages → Settings and check the URL modifications settings. Using a language-specific domain or directory structure (e.g., example.com/en/event) can help Polylang correctly identify the language of the requested page. Then, ensure you have assigned a translated menu to each language in Appearance → Menus and selected them in the Language Switcher tab in the menu editor.
• Why it works: This gives Polylang a clear signal in the URL about which language is being requested, allowing it to serve the correct menu.

3. Check for Known Compatibility and Add-Ons

Some event plugins have known compatibility notes or even official add-ons for multilingual support.

• Action: Research the documentation for both your event plugin and Polylang. The 'Polylang' team maintains a list of compatible themes and plugins. While this list may reference their Pro version, it can indicate whether official integration code exists.
• Community Solutions: Search for code snippets or community-developed plugins that bridge the gap between your specific event plugin and Polylang. A well-crafted code snippet in your theme's functions.php file can sometimes modify the AJAX queries to include necessary language parameters.

4. Handle SEO and Meta Descriptions Separately

For duplicate meta description errors on event pages, the solution lies with your SEO plugin, not Polylang itself.

• Action: If you are using an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math, ensure you are using its built-in translation features. You must edit the event in each language and provide a unique meta description within the SEO metabox for that language's version of the event.
• Why it works: Polylang translates content, but it relies on other plugins to handle the translation of their own specific metadata fields. Most major SEO plugins fully support this when configured correctly.

Persistent issues often require detailed debugging. Enabling WordPress debug logging can help identify specific database query errors. If problems continue, reaching out to the respective plugin communities for both Polylang and your event plugin can provide further insight, as both sides may need to adjust their code for full compatibility.