Hello,
Is the preview_image meta key coming from an ACF custom field?
Hi,
Looking at both archives: the English Query Loop is pulling the correct translated posts (English titles, /en/ URLs), but the image src is identical to the Greek version, so the loop is reading the original attachment.
The cause is that two separate things are involved, and only one of them is set:
Media Translation works on the attachment itself. It gives one image a counterpart in each language, with its own alt, caption and title.
Your custom field stores an attachment ID on the post. Which ID gets stored in each language is controlled by that field’s translation preference, not by Media Translation.
{{post_meta key:preview_image}} reads the value stored on the post currently in the loop and renders it. So if the translated post holds the original attachment ID, that’s the image you get — translating the media doesn’t change what’s stored in the field.
I reproduced this locally with WPML 5.1 and an ACF image field. With the field set to “Copy”, the translated post stored the original image’s ID, and WPML showed a notice in the editor saying it would copy the field from the source language on save. Changing the preference to “Copy once” fixed it — the translated post then kept its own image and the loop rendered it correctly.
To apply it on your site:
- Go to WPML → Settings → Custom Fields Translation.
- Find preview_image and set it to “Copy once” instead of “Copy”, then save.
- Open the English version of a news post and set the English image on the Preview image field, then update.
If you reopen the translated post and still see a notice saying WPML will copy preview_image from English, delete that translation and create it again — the preference applies to translations created after the change.
One thing worth checking: if what you want is the same image with translated alt text, then “Copy” plus Media Translation is already correct and no change is needed. The above is for genuinely different images per language.
I managed to make it work.
Thank you a lot
