In This Article
Translating your theme
By default, each Shopify store can only use a single translation file at one time. We have fully translated versions of our themes in English, French, Spanish, German and Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal).
If you need to translate your theme to one of these languages, you can do so by going into the Language Files or the theme. This allows you to easily update text that appears throughout your shop.
Please note, that the theme will need to be published in order to change the theme language.
For more information, check out Shopify's official article on translating your theme.
Step 1: Navigate to the Language Files by going into Online Store > Themes > Actions > Edit languages:
Step 2: In order to translate your theme to either English, French, Spanish, German and Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), click the Change theme language button link at the top of the page.
Note: your theme will need to be published to do this, if it is not published, the change theme language link will not appear.
In the Language Files, you will be able to change the various text throughout your shop such as "Sold Out," "Add to Cart," and "Checkout."
Selling in multiple languages
Support for selling in multiple languages has been added in the following theme versions:
- Turbo 6.0.2
- Flex 2.0.2
- Parallax 3.7.3
- Retina 4.7.1
- Responsive 7.2.1
- Mobilia 6.2.1
- Artisan 1.3.1
What theme version am I using?
Requirements
To sell in multiple languages, you need to have the following:
- A supported third-party language translation app installed on your store.
- A theme that has added support for this functionality. You will need to update your theme to the newest version once support has been included.
Adding third-party apps can come at a cost, however, and we are unable to guarantee that the apps will integrate with Out of the Sandbox themes. Any conflicts with the added app and your theme would need to be resolved by the app’s developers.
Adding languages
Step 1: Once you have updated your theme and installed a supported translation app, from your Shopify admin, head into Settings.
Step 2: Click Store languages.
Step 3: Click the Add Language button.
Step 4: Select a language from the drop-down, then click add.
Step 5: Next you'll need to follow the steps in the app you've installed to translate your store's content. You can quickly jump to your installed translation app by clicking the Edit link beside your added language to select the app:
Step 6: Once you've translated your store's content in the app, head back to the Store languages panel in the admin.
Step 7: Here, you can preview the translated site and then once you're all set, publish the language:
Step 8: Once you've translated and published your language, you'll want to enable the language selector for your theme so your customers can choose their language.
Step 9: From the Shopify admin, head into Online store > Themes > Customize.
To add the language selector in the header, under Sections > Header > Language selector, enable the 'Show language selector' setting:
To add the language selector in the footer, under Sections > Footer > Language selector, enable the 'Show language selector' setting:
Limitations of selling in multiple languages
- You can translate your store up to five additional languages. If you’re a Shopify Plus merchant, then you can translate your store up to twenty languages.
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The search function works only in the shop's primary language.
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This feature doesn't support different domains per language.
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Only compatible third-party translation apps are supported by this feature.
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Tags (such as product tags, article tags, and blog tags) can't be translated.