Managing Languages for Your Global Markets

To deliver a localized shopping experience, it’s important to present your store content in the languages your customers understand. This guide walks you through assigning one or more languages to each market and managing your language settings. This ensures that customers see the correct language based on their location or preferences.

Before Assigning Languages to Markets

Before adding a new language to your store, we recommend completing a few key preparations to ensure a smooth launch and provide a seamless browsing experience for your customers. This section covers two essential areas to help you configure and manage your language settings effectively.

Domain Setup

By default, each newly created market shares the same domain and languages as your primary market. To display the appropriate languages for each target market, you’ll need to assign a subdomain or subfolder. This allows you to specify unique languages for that market.

For detailed setup instructions, refer to this Help Center guide.

Translating Store Content

Before adding a new language, we recommend preparing complete translation content to ensure your store’s messaging remains accurate and consistent. You have two options:

• Bulk Export and Import: Go to Settings > Language > Import custom translation text to use the export/import functions. This is ideal for bulk file management, collaboration, or backup purposes.
• Translation Apps: SHOPLINE offers visual translation tools, such as Multi-Language Translator and Multi-language & Multi-currency Assistant, enabling you to directly edit and manage translated content to improve workflow efficiency.

Adding Languages to Your Store

Before assigning languages to markets, you must first add them to your store’s supported language list. Follow these steps:

1. From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Settings > Languages.
   
2. In the Supported languages section, click Add languages.
   
3. Select one or more languages from the pop-up list based on your needs, then click Save.
   

The selected languages are now added to your store. You can proceed to assign them to your markets.

Assigning Languages to Markets

To assign a language to a specific market, follow these steps:

1. From your admin panel, go to Settings > Languages.
   
2. In the Supported languages section, click Assign to markets next to the language you want to assign.
   
3. Check the market(s) you want to assign the language to, then click Complete.
   

The language has now been assigned to the selected markets.

Managing Market Assignments for a Language

To add or remove markets assigned to a language, follow these steps:

1. From your admin panel, go to Settings > Languages.
   
2. In the Supported languages section, click Adjust markets next to the language you want to remove.
   
3. Select or deselect the markets as needed, then click Complete to save your changes.
   

Changing the Default Market Language

If multiple languages are assigned to a market, you can set a new default language by following these steps: 

1. From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Settings > Markets. Click the market you want to edit.
   
2. Click Manage next to Domains and languages.
   
3. In the Market language section, click Change default language.
   
4. Select the new default language, then click Complete.
   

Deleting Supported Store Languages

If you no longer need a specific language, you can delete it. This action permanently removes all associated translations. To re-enable the language later, you’ll need to add and translate it again.

To delete a language:

1. From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Settings > Languages.
   
2. In the Supported languages section, click the more options icon next to the language you want to delete, then select Delete language.