How to translate your Shopify store into multiple languages
If you have a Shopify store, then you may be thinking of launching something internationally. Ultimately, the rewards for this come from selling your product. Maybe your journey started with shipping to a new location, and now you feel that it is a good idea to move into this other market.
As a Shopify store owner, sooner or later you should start thinking about expanding your business to the international level and entering new markets. You will gain more customers and generate sales. You can use many solutions available to localise your business and optimise your store for these different languages. There are many companies where customers are hesitant to buy from them, partly because of the absence of a professional translation. You will be way better off not being among them, and in this article we can advise you on how to avoid it.
So how can you create a multi language website?
Shopify empowers over a billion e-commerce stores worldwide. The platform allows any business owner to sell their business online. However, international e-commerce often has unforeseen roadblocks, such as language barriers. You can use automatic translations and third-party apps from the shopify app store, but the result may be a bit confusing.
The best solution for translating your store is adding language translations using csv files and sending them to a professional agency, like Skrivanek. You can translate your content into another language, because Shopify allows you to sell in up to 20 languages from a single Shopify store (except for Shopify Lite Plan).
You can translate your store into multiple languages, in just a few steps.
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How to translate your Shopify website in 4 easy steps
Step 1. Preparing the content you want to translate
1. Go to Settings from your Shopify admin.
2. Click Languages and then pick Export.
3.Select the language you want to export, and then choose one of the following options, depending on your needs: All content, Metafields, Outdated, or Untranslated content.
4.Select Export. The exported CSV file is then emailed to you.
Be aware that the text for checkout and email notifications are not included in this file. The email notifications can be translated automatically. You can edit translations in Settings > Notifications.
Step2. Sending the csv file to Skrivanek for a professional translation
Step 3. Adding new languages to your store
1.Go to Settings > Languages from your Shopify admin.
2.Click Add Language.
3.Choose a language from the drop-down menu, then click Add.
4.Select an active market to add your language to.
Step 4. Importing translations
1.Go to Settings and click Languages > Import.
2.Click Add file and then navigate to your CSV translations file.
3.Check Overwrite any existing translations if you want the translated language content in your CSV file to be replaced by any existing translations. Uncheck Overwrite any existing translations if you want to import only the new translated content, and will not be replacing any existing translations.
4.Click Upload and Continue.
5.Review the Import language with CSV information, and then click Import. If your CSV file contains errors, the import stops and the errors are listed on the Import language with CSV page.
6.A confirmation notice is then emailed to you. It includes a list of any translated content that failed to import or was skipped.
Note: Just because you added a new language, it does not mean it has been published to your e-commerce store immediately. You must click on the Publish button for it to actually take effect on your store.
What you should know before translating your content
- If you want to use any multilingual shopify theme, then you must remember that this function does not support automating the language translation process. You will need to translate all your plain text manually.
- Adding a language switcher to Shopify is easy – you should have this option in your Shopify theme.
- The platform not only adds meta tags and hreflang tags, but also includes all languages in your sitemap. This helps search engines to navigate your translated content, leading to better search rankings.
What are the benefits of translating or localising your Shopify store in multiple languages?
Launching your online Shopify store in international markets can expand your client reach. Ultimately, this will be rewarded when you start selling your product to them.
Professional translation in a native language can rank your Shopify store with a multilingual SEO to get you potential customers.
English may be considered as the language of the Internet. Currently, around 475 billion users are online, and a third of them speak English. Therefore, Shopify stores need to be translated into other languages.
Optimising your store into various languages provides additional advantages. Your search engine optimisation performance may be dramatically improved when you publish in native languages.
Optimising your store for various language translations provides translated content with a key values section. For example, your search engine optimisation performance may dramatically improve when you publish in native languages.
Choosing a translation service for your Shopify site
This is a framework for creating multilingual successes. The only thing missing is the translation solution.
Getting a suitable LSP is just one step towards the right path. It is essential to rely on experts who can accurately translate your entire online store.
In many situations your selection also determines how difficult this translation process is going to be. Therefore, during this decision-making time, there will be some important considerations to make.
Why can localisations not be done with a simple translation via Google Translate?
This is quite a common question, because why should we not want a free solution?
As we mentioned earlier, there are some options in translating your Shopify store. You may not only use the Shopify app dedicated to translations, Shopify Translate & Adapt., but there are some other third party apps as well, like AI Language Translate.
But have you seen anyone generating extra sales by just adding translations to their online store? You have probably never seen such an thing.
The question is what happens if the target audience in any language feels no connection with the translated content on your Shopify store? The link that must be there to bridge the gap between you and your customers is missing. Your translated content cannot help if it does not resonate with the audience.
Skrivanek can help you solve all your localisation problems
Skrivanek is a full-service global communication agency that ensures you stay connected with the world in this technology era via translations. It can help you to translate your store into multiple language systems, to add them all to your site and to ensure that every language is part of your store content.
Skrivanek is a platform that translates the Shopify store language into 80 other languages and 96 specialisations. It helps in localising your online store with translated store content that resonates with your target country’s culture, preferences and laws – so you can understand them better.
Why choose Skrivanek for your Shopify store?
- Skrivanek is a proven translation provider to get your store into the language of your choice, with 25 years of experience under its belt.
- Skrivanek helps you widen your client base by targeting the right SEO keywords to rank on search engines with your translated content. You can position yourself as an authority, so your customers can trust you.
- Skrivanek provides a comprehensive range 0f services, from translations to keyword research and interpretation. It completed 47 000 translations in 2021 alone for a range of different customers, and can help you in all your translations.
- Skrivanek is the best solution for professional language translations of Shopify store languages.
Contact our team to discover the services that we provide to enhance your business performance.