Troubleshooting

Each entry follows the same shape: what you're seeing, why it usually happens, how to fix it, and how to check the fix worked.

"Translation is unavailable right now"

Symptom: the switcher opens, but shows this message at the top, and choosing a language does nothing. status is 'error'.

Likely cause: Google's script didn't load within timeout (ten seconds by default). In order of how often it happens:

1. An ad blocker or privacy extension in your browser blocks translate.google.com.
2. Your Content Security Policy doesn't allow Google's hosts.
3. A network (an office firewall, some countries) blocks Google.

Fix:

1. Try a private window with extensions off. If it works there, it's an extension, and some of your visitors will have the same one; nothing on your side is broken.
2. Open the browser console and look for "Refused to load the script" messages. Add the hosts listed in Security, CSP & Privacy, and pass your nonce.
3. Listen to the error event (or read error.value from the composable) to see the exact reason.

If many of your visitors are affected, switch to a provider, which doesn't depend on Google's script.

Verify: open the switcher and change the language; the message is gone and the page translates.

changeLanguage() rejects with "does not support the language code"

Symptom: choosing a language does nothing, and the error event or a rejected promise says Google doesn't support the code.

Likely cause: the code isn't one Google's widget knows. Usually it's a custom language list with a typo, a three-letter code where Google uses two, or a language Google doesn't offer.

Fix: check the code against Languages & Flags. Google uses iw for Hebrew, jw for Javanese, and zh-CN / zh-TW for Chinese; the modern he and jv are converted for you.

Verify: the language now appears in the list and translates the page.

Some text isn't translated

Symptom: most of the page translates, but some parts stay in the original language.

Likely cause: one of these:

• The text is inside an element marked translate="no" or class="notranslate", or inside <code>, <pre> or <textarea>, which are skipped on purpose.
• It's part of an image, a canvas or an SVG. Machine translation only reaches text.
• With a provider: it's in an attribute that isn't in translateAttributes (only placeholder, title, alt and aria-label by default).
• It's inside an iframe, which is a separate page.

Fix: remove the notranslate marking if it shouldn't be there, or add the attribute to translateAttributes.

Verify: switch language again and check the text changes.

The page is stuck in a language

Symptom: choosing the original language doesn't stick: after a reload, the page is translated again.

Likely cause: a googtrans cookie on a level of your domain the package didn't write, set by another app on the same domain, or by your own code with a different path. Or the URL still has #googtrans(…) or ?lang= in it.

Fix: choose the original language once from the switcher; it clears the cookie on every level of the domain and removes #googtrans from the URL. If you set the cookie yourself anywhere, set it with path=/ on one level only. If you use queryParameter, check that links you share don't hard-code ?lang=.

Verify: in your browser's developer tools, under Application → Cookies, there's no googtrans cookie after restoring.

The layout is mirrored wrongly in Arabic or Hebrew

Symptom: the text is in Arabic, but some elements stay on the left, or icons point the wrong way.

Likely cause: CSS that names sides explicitly (margin-left, left: 0, text-align: left) doesn't flip with dir="rtl".

Fix: use logical properties (margin-inline-start, inset-inline-start, text-align: start). See Right-to-Left Languages.

Verify: <html> has dir="rtl" while the page is in Arabic, and the element is on the right.

Hydration mismatch warnings in Nuxt

Symptom: after reloading a page in another language, the console shows "Hydration … mismatch" warnings mentioning the switcher.

Likely cause: the server rendered the page's own language because it didn't know about the visitor's choice. This happens if the module's plugin is off and your own plugin doesn't pass initialLanguage.

Fix: keep plugin: true (the default), or pass initialLanguage from the googtrans cookie as shown in Nuxt.

Verify: reload in another language with the console open; no hydration warnings.

Google's banner or hover highlight shows up again

Symptom: a Google toolbar appears at the top of the page, the layout is pushed down, or translated sentences are highlighted on hover.

Likely cause: Google renamed the elements the package hides, or hide-branding is false.

Fix: check hide-branding isn't turned off. If it isn't, Google has changed its markup: hide the element with your own global CSS for now (inspect it in your browser's developer tools to find its class), and please open an issue with a screenshot so the package can be updated.

Verify: the toolbar is gone and the page isn't offset.

Two switchers disagree, or one ignores its options

Symptom: a warning in the console says Google Translate is already loaded with a different pageLanguage, or one switcher's options seem to have no effect.

Likely cause: Google's widget is loaded once per page, with the first switcher's default-language. A second one with a different value can't change it.

Fix: set defaultLanguage once, with the plugin or the Nuxt module, instead of on each component.

Verify: no warning in the console, and both switchers show the same current language.

A third-party widget breaks after translating

Symptom: a chat bubble, map or booking widget stops working after the page is translated.

Likely cause: translation rewrote text inside it, and its code depended on that text.

Fix: mark the widget's container with v-no-translate. If that isn't possible, use reload mode.

Verify: translate the page and use the widget.