Translating your Shopify store can open up new markets. But publishing raw machine translation straight to your storefront can put awkward, off-brand copy in front of every international customer. Here's a safer workflow in five steps.
Step 1: Add your languages
In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Languages, add the languages you want, and connect them to the markets you sell in.
Step 2: Build a glossary
List your brand name, product line names and key terms, and decide how each one should be translated, or kept as is. This keeps every language consistent.
| Term | Rule |
|---|---|
| Your brand name | Keep as is |
| Product line names | Keep as is |
| "sage green" | "vert sauge" (French) |
Step 3: Don't forget SEO
Translate your meta titles and meta descriptions too, not just your product copy, so your pages can show up in local search results.
Step 4: Review before you publish
Read each translation side by side with the original, fix anything that sounds wrong, and only then make it live.
| Raw machine output | Reviewed |
|---|---|
| Robe enveloppe lin, longueur midi, vert sage | Robe portefeuille en lin, longueur midi, vert sauge |
Step 5: Keep translations in sync
When you edit a product, its translations go stale. Track what changed, update the affected translations, and keep a way to roll back if something goes wrong.
The same workflow, built in
LinguaFlow is built around this workflow. It drafts every translation for you to review in a before and after diff, publishes through Shopify's Translations API with no theme edits, applies your glossary and tone rules, translates SEO fields, and drafts updates when products change, without ever auto-publishing. Every publish is logged, with one-click rollback. There's a free plan for one language.