How to do a data migration from existing field to default language?

models.py

from django.db import models

class Service(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    url = models.CharField(max_length=300)

    def __str__(self):
        return self.name

translation.py

from modeltranslation.translator import translator, TranslationOptions
from portal.models import Service

class ServiceTranslationOptions(TranslationOptions):
    fields = ('name', 'description')

translator.register(Service, ServiceTranslationOptions)

admin.py

from django.contrib import admin
from modeltranslation.admin import TabbedTranslationAdmin
from portal.models import Service

class ServiceAdmin(TabbedTranslationAdmin):
    pass

admin.site.register(Service, ServiceAdmin)

[RamiAhmed]

Actually I found the answer in the excellent documentation: http://django-modeltranslation.readthedocs.org/en/latest/commands.html#the-update-translation-fields-command

Using the command update_translation_fields, all my problems were solved. Thanks!

[RamiAhmed]

This question is quite relevant for me as well.

We have an existing database in english. When I run makemigrations with translations enabled, all the fields marked for translation are cleared so that all translation fields are empty. This is unacceptable for us.

We need to be able to use the current data in the database for the language marked as default. Also, we would not want to have to fill out all the “_en” fields, as we already have it in english. Frankly, I’m surprised that the “_en” columns were added, considering that it should just use whatever is presently there in the database for that model?

Hoping for a speedy resolution to this issue!

Python 2.7, Django 1.8, Heroku hosted