Translate your Shopify Store like a Pro

There are multiple ways to change the default language of your Shopify store. We’ll examine these options and determine the most suitable one for your e-commerce venture.

Option 1: Shopify’s Global Market Presence

Utilizing Shopify Markets, you can present various languages on your Shopify store, but for specific requirements.

Select either the Basic Shopify tier or an upgraded plan.

A theme that supports multiple languages and facilitates selling.

Choose a theme that comes with a built-in language switcher.

Manage the translation of your store by yourself.

Install the Shopify Translate & Adapt app(Add a translation app that is compatible with Shopify).

Although there is an inherent solution, using the Shopify Translate & Adapt app still entails various manual steps when supplying translations. It becomes necessary if you intend to have more than two languages in your store.

Option 2: Crafting Numerous Storefronts

Another possibility is to generate individual stores for different markets, leading to the existence of multiple stores. The main issue lies in the fact that maintaining and managing multiple stores is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. 

Consider the scenario of adding new products, managing inventory, and implementing updates across a multitude of stores!

Furthermore, pursuing this approach doesn’t tackle the problem of translating the text on your e-commerce store. You’ll still need to provide translations for all the content and products present on your current Shopify store for each.

Option 3: Choose a Multilingual Theme for Shopify

One common misbelief in the creation of a multilingual Shopify store is the idea that all you need to do is pick a theme or template that is preconfigured for multilingual functionality. It’s thought to come equipped with a language switcher.

In reality, this idea is not accurate. Although it might seem like a good strategy at first, many of these themes lack advanced functionalities. They allow translation only for your store’s content and disregard the checkout and other system messages.

Moreover, multilingual Shopify themes do not come with inherent capabilities for automating the language translation process. It involves a significant amount of hands-on work. All plain text and HTML must be translated manually. 

Your website’s on-screen aesthetics are shaped by Liquid, which is Shopify’s templating language. Be mindful to translate the text adjacent to Liquid, excluding the translation of Liquid’s tags, filters, or objects. Engaging in this type of translation could result in the complete malfunction of your store’s functionality.

While a multilingual Shopify theme is a viable choice, the challenges associated with manual translation can be quite problematic. If your store is already running, it becomes more challenging as you need to go back and translate each element.

Option 4: The Magic of a Multilingual Shopify app

The most straightforward and inclusive way to translate your Shopify store is by utilizing a multi-language translation app. There’s no need to replicate your Shopify store, and a multilingual theme is also not required. Utilizing an app to introduce multiple languages to your store. 

This tool automatically finds and translates your entire Shopify site, including the checkout and emails. It also manages the multilingual SEO for your newly translated store. From hreflang tags to sitemap settings, it ensures that your store is finely tuned for international search engines. 

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