Multilingual shops have become rather simple to do technically but are of course still very time consuming to both create and maintain from a content standpoint. This is very important to remember when starting a multilingual shop/service/site/app/anything.

We have the tools

‍Shopify's technical localization guide is clear and concise but for a user who is familiar with other multilingual solution there is a pretty glaring omission: no guide on how to do the actual content input! This is because Shopify have opted for a strategy of building the backend system and allowing third-party developers use it before they themselves offer a translation solution. This has resulted in a huge amount of competing solutions for how to manage you multlingual content. Since a few weeks back Shopify also offer their own solution for this that is still being developed: Shopify Translate & Adapt.

We and our client have used multiple different apps for managing the translated content on the website but our favourites for the past few months has been a combination of Shopify's Translate & Adapt and T Lab.

Why this combination?

Since Shopify's own solution is still being developed it is not capable of translating everything just yet (Metafields being the biggest omission as of the time of writing.). T Lab offers metafields translation as well as the capability to translate everything else on the store. We use both since the user interface of Shopify's solution is far superior and has a native feel in the Shopify admin dashboard. T Lab is also very easy to use but simply not at the same level as Translate & Adapt.

Other considerations

We are used to using very sophisticated content management systems and some features are still missing from Shopify that you would usually expect to available. These are mentioned in the guide provided by Shopify and a very good to be aware of. This being that product URL's and tags are not yet translatable. These are not showstoppers but do impact SEO optimisation.

Summary

• In 2023 we recommend using Shopify Translate & Adapt with T Lab.
• Remember to have a strategy in place for translations both for the initial launch and ongoing content input.