What's the best way to detect the active language in a Polylang-enabled WordPress site?

Other Questions Wordpress
1

I’m working on a multilingual WordPress site using Polylang. I need to figure out which language is currently being displayed on a page. Is there a built-in variable or function I can use to check this?

I’m looking for something simple that I can use in conditional statements. Ideally, it would work like this:

if (get_current_language() === 'english') {
    // Do something for English content
} elseif (get_current_language() === 'spanish') {
    // Do something for Spanish content
}

Does anyone know if Polylang provides a way to do this? Or is there another method I should use to detect the active language? Any help would be great!

2

hey danwilson85, i’ve used polylang before and there’s a simple way to do this. try pll_current_language(). it gives you the language code, like ‘en’ or ‘es’. just remember to check if the function exists first. it’s pretty handy for what you’re trying to do!

3

As someone who’s worked extensively with multilingual WordPress sites, I can confirm that Polylang’s pll_current_language() function is indeed the way to go. However, I’ve found it helpful to create a wrapper function for added flexibility. Here’s what I typically use:

function get_active_language() {
return function_exists(‘pll_current_language’) ? pll_current_language() : get_locale();
}

This approach has two advantages: it falls back to WordPress’s default locale if Polylang isn’t active, and it allows you to easily switch to a different multilingual plugin in the future without rewriting your conditionals. You can then use it like this:

if (get_active_language() === ‘en’) {
// English-specific code
}

Hope this helps streamline your multilingual development process!

4

I’ve dealt with this exact issue in a recent project. Polylang actually provides a straightforward function for this purpose: pll_current_language(). It returns the current language code, which is perfect for what you’re trying to achieve. Here’s how you can use it:

if (function_exists(‘pll_current_language’)) {
$current_lang = pll_current_language();
if ($current_lang === ‘en’) {
// English content logic
} elseif ($current_lang === ‘es’) {
// Spanish content logic
}
}

Just make sure to wrap it in a function_exists() check to avoid errors if Polylang isn’t active for some reason. This method has worked reliably for me across multiple multilingual sites.