Site translation
The Site translation section drives the automatic translation of all your content (showcase pages, product pages, collections, blog articles, emails) into the languages you select. Each active language gives access to a version of your site at a dedicated URL (for example /en for English).
Come here when you open your store internationally and want to add a new language, when you want to track the progress of an ongoing translation, or when you need to tell the translation engine how to handle specific terms (brand names, character names, expressions unique to your universe) so they aren't translated or are translated in a particular way.
Your changes are saved in one go with Save at the top of the page, or discarded with Cancel. A confirmation screen recaps the impact of your changes before launching the translation. If you change the languages or settings while a translation is in progress, it restarts from the beginning.
Main language
This section sets your site's default language, the one your content is written in and shown before any translation. Pick it in the Default language field. The chosen language is the source language for automatic translations and for your custom terminologies; it doesn't count among the translated languages.
Site language selection
This section determines the languages available on your site. As soon as a language is saved, a public URL is dedicated to it and the automatic translation of all your content starts. The number of allowed languages depends on your plan.
Use the Search a language field to find the language you want, then select it to activate it. Active languages appear below with the Active indicator and the link to the translated version of your site. The Selected languages counter reminds you how many languages are active relative to your limit. To remove a language, click the corresponding delete icon.
Give visitors access to languages on your site
Once a language is active, its pages are reachable via the matching URL extension (for example /en for English, /es for Spanish). To let your visitors switch between languages, add a language menu to your navigation bar or your footer, using the Language menu element of the page editor.
Translations in progress
This section tracks translations being processed. Processing takes up to 24 hours, but is usually much faster. Content re-translated after a language or terminology change appears here temporarily, then disappears once translation is complete.
Each row shows the Type of content being translated, the number of Items to translate and the date the work was Created on. If no translation is in progress, the table shows the message No translation in progress.
Custom terminologies
Add custom terminologies so that automatic translation respects brand names, character names, or any other content that should not be translated or should be translated in a specific way. It's the best way to guarantee the consistency of your vocabulary across all languages.
Click Add a terminology to create a new rule: enter the term in your main language then its exact translation in each active language. If a term should never be translated, enter it identically in every language. Delete a terminology via the corresponding icon. Once your rules are saved, they apply to every subsequent translation.