Translating and localizing your store

Whenever translations don't exist, your online store shows content in your primary language. You can translate the content of your online store by adding your own translations using CSV files, or by using a compatible third-party app. After translating the store, customers can browse your store, checkout, and receive notifications in their local language.

On this page

• Adding language translations using CSV files

• Translated resource types and fields

• Checkout and email notifications

• Translations available for themes and checkout

Adding language translations using CSV files

You can import translated content in CSV files. Importing your own translations using CSV files lets you manage your language translations without the use of a third-party translation app.

Restrictions:

• You can't translate resource tags.

• If you use a third-party app, then your app might not support selling in multiple languages by default. If you're not sure about your app, then contact the app's developer.

• If you change a product's handle, then the URL redirects for that product won't be supported for language-specific URLs.

• You can't translate product URLs. Product URLs remain in the language that they were created in, even when a customer views your site in another published language.

The following high-level steps describe the process to export, modify, and import language translations using CSV files.

Step 1: Export your CSV file

You can export a CSV file from your Shopify admin that contains the current list of translations for the languages that you select. The CSV file is emailed to you.

The CSV file contains the following columns:

• Type - The resource type, such as Products, Articles, Collections, Pages, or Blogs.

• Identification - The resource ID.

• Field - The field, such as title, body_html, or meta_title.

• Locale - The language that the content is being translated to.

• Status - Identifies whether the translation is outdated.

• Default content - The original content to be translated.

• Translated content - The translated content. You can add your translated content to this row.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.

2. Click Languages.

3. Click Export.

4. Select the language that you want to export. You can select All languages to export the translations for all languages that you support.

5. Select one of the following options:

• Select All content to export all translations.

• Select Metafields if you're using metafields to add content to your store.

• Select Outdated if you've already added translations to your store and want to export translations that are out of date with your default language.

• Select Untranslated content to export only the content that isn't currently translated.

6. Click Export. The exported CSV file is emailed to you.

Step 2: Add your translations

Add your language translations directly to the Translated content column of the exported CSV file, and then save your changes. You don't need to modify the values in any of the other columns in the CSV file.

If you use a spreadsheet program to edit your CSV file, then ensure that your default delimiter is set to commas instead of semicolons. In some cases, HTML codes with semicolons are included in your CSV export file, which might cause the columns to render incorrectly in your spreadsheet program.

Step 3: Import your CSV file

After you export and edit your language translations CSV file, you can import it to your Shopify admin to update the translated content in your online store.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.

2. Click Languages.

3. Click Import.

4. Click Add file and then navigate to your translations CSV file.

5. Check Overwrite any existing translations if you want the translated language content in your CSV file to replace any existing translations. Uncheck Overwrite any existing translations if you want to import only the new translated content, and not replace any existing translations.

6. Click Upload and continue.

7. Review the Import language with a CSV information, and then click Import. If your CSV file contains errors, then the import is stopped, and the errors are listed on the Import language with a CSV page.

8. A confirmation is emailed to you, which includes a list of any translated content that failed or was skipped.

Translated resource types and fields

For information about types of resources that are translatable, refer to the TranslatableResourceType reference documentation.

Tags such as product tags, article tags, and blog tags can't be translated.

Checkout and email notifications

After you add and publish a language, the translated content is displayed in the checkout and in any email notifications sent to your customer. The checkout displays in the same language that a customer uses to browse your online store. The checkout has default translations for some languages, but you can customize any translated content using a compatible third-party translation app, or importing your own translations using CSV files.

If translations are available for an email notification, then a customer is automatically sent email notifications in the language that they placed their order in. You can add or edit email notification translations for the languages that you have added to your store.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.

2. Click Notifications.

3. Click the email notification that you want to translate.

4. From the Translate drop-down, select the language that you want to add translations for.

5. Add or edit the translations for your email notification in the editable fields.

6. Click Save.

Preview email notifications

You can preview email notifications that you have translated.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.

2. Click Notifications.

3. Click the email notification that you want to preview.

4. Click Preview.

5. On the Preview page, click the language drop-down and then select the language that you want to preview.

Translations available for themes and checkout

The following languages are available for translation for themes:

• Chinese (Simplified)

• Chinese (Traditional)

• Croatian

• Czech

• Danish

• Dutch

• English

• Finnish

• French

• German

• Greek

• Hindi

• Hungarian

• Indonesian

• Italian

• Japanese

• Korean

• Lithuanian

• Malay

• Norwegian

• Polish

• Portuguese (Brazil)

• Portuguese (Portugal)

• Romanian (Romania)

• Russian

• Slovak (Slovakia)

• Slovenian (Slovenia)

• Spanish

• Swedish

• Thai

• Turkish

• Vietnamese

The following languages are available for translation for checkout and system translations:

• Chinese (Simplified)

• Chinese (Traditional)

• Croatian

• Czech

• Danish

• Dutch

• English

• Finnish

• French

• German

• Greek

• Hindi

• Hungarian

• Indonesian

• Italian

• Japanese

• Korean

• Lithuanian

• Malay

• Norwegian

• Polish

• Portuguese (Brazil)

• Portuguese (Portugal)

• Romanian (Romania)

• Russian

• Slovak (Slovakia)

• Slovenian (Slovenia)

• Spanish

• Swedish

• Thai

• Turkish