The Divi theme is one of the popular WordPress themes closely competing in sales with the bestselling Avada theme. As a multipurpose theme, Divi can be utilized for nearly any type of website, similar to themes like Avada.
When you install and activate the Divi theme on a Korean WordPress site, its interface will display in Korean. However, due to many awkward Korean translations, I personally prefer to deactivate the translation feature when using it.
With the recent update to WordPress version 6.7, it seems that even when the translation deactivation option is selected, the UI continues to display in Korean. If you wish to see the interface in English due to the awkwardness of the Korean translation, you can try the methods suggested below.
Disabling Korean Translations for the WordPress Divi Theme to Display Strings in English
Avada Theme vs. Divi Theme
Both Avada and Divi are popular themes favored by many users for building virtually any type of website, from blogs to corporate sites and online stores.
| Category | Divi Theme | Avada Theme |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | 1,002,378* | 974,872* |
| License | - Annual/Lifetime License - Unlimited Site Installations | - For One Site - Basic Support for 6 Months |
| Price | - Annual Subscription: $89 - Lifetime License: $249 | - One Site: $69 - Lifetime Updates (6 Months Basic Support) |
| Main Features | - Simple yet powerful multipurpose theme - Frontend site-wide editing - Theme options - Starter site introduction - Layout design | - Pioneer of multipurpose themes - Usable without coding knowledge - Introduction of Layout similar to theme options (site-wide editing) - Suitable for beginners to experts |
| Page Builder | Divi Builder | Avada Builder |
| Demo Sites | - Over 2,500 layouts* - 29 Starter Sites* | - 109 Demo Sites |
| WooCommerce Support | Full Support | Full Support |
| Theme Builder | Theme Builder | Layouts |
* As of January 19, 2025.
The Divi theme can be installed and applied to an unlimited number of WordPress sites during its license period (one year or lifetime), making it an economical option especially for web agencies and web designers.
The layout of the Divi theme can be loaded and utilized at the page level. You can create new pages by combining multiple layouts. The concept of starter sites is similar to the demo sites of the Avada theme and can be applied across the entire site. Divi continuously adds new starter sites.
If you are particularly looking to create a landing page, the Divi theme or the Elementor page builder can be very helpful.
The Avada theme is a bestselling choice suitable for all types of users, from beginners without coding knowledge to advanced programmers. However, due to its larger size, there is a risk of site slowdown if optimization isnβt properly managed.
For more details on the Divi theme, please visit the homepage of its developer, Elegant Themes.
How to Disable Divi Theme Translation
When you install the Divi theme on a Korean WordPress site, the strings will display in Korean. However, many of these translations are contextually awkward.
Expressions like κ³κΈ°λ°, νν΄, νμΈ, μμ¬μ, μμ± stand out as inappropriate and out of context.
One might suspect these are the result of machine translations or AI-generated content.
Upon investigating the term "μμ¬μ," it turns out to be an inappropriate translation of the term "SEO." π₯ It seems the name "SEO" got translated to "μμ¬μ" due to its use on the uniform of the player Jae Weong Seo. (If there were a term like "Park," I wonder if it would have been translated as "Chan Ho Park", the first South Korean-born player in MLB history. π)
To display the Divi theme strings in English on the admin page, you just need to set "Disable Translations" to Enabled.
With the update to WordPress 6.7, the method of loading translations has changed. This could be the reason behind the issues arising, such as improper application of translations for certain plugins or themes. For example, shortly after the WordPress 6.7 update, a problem arose where the strings of the Korean forum plugin 'Kboard' displayed in English. This issue has likely been resolved with a subsequent update.
It is presumed that similar errors are occurring in the Divi theme due to the change in translation loading methods.
If activating "Disable Translations" still displays the site's language (for example, Korean, Japanese, etc.) instead of English, kindly add the code below to the child theme functions file.
/* Disabling Divi Theme Translations */
function disable_divi_translations() {
return 'en_US';
}
add_filter('locale', 'disable_divi_translations'); Incorporating the above code will change the locale of the Divi theme to English, thereby disabling the translations.
You should be able to disable translations using this method until Divi releases a fix for the problem.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we have explored how to disable Korean translations in the Divi theme. The release of WordPress 6.7 has proven to be a major update, and it appears that more users are experiencing site errors following this update than with previous versions.
In particular, there are reports of many sites experiencing issues where the left menu displays abnormally large when navigating to Appearance Β» Customize, making the site hard to use. I have frequently witnessed this problem on sites with the GeneratePress theme. The root cause appears to be plugin conflicts, especially with right-click prevention plugins, which often trigger this issue.