Writing labels in more than one language

EU law asks for materials in the language of the country you are selling into. That makes language a legal matter, not a preference.

Your store's language is always used

Whatever language your online store is in, labels are written in it. That happens on every plan and is not something you turn on.

This is your store's language, not the language you personally use the Shopify admin in. If you run your admin in English but your store sells in German, your labels are German, because that is what your shoppers read.

Adding more

Adding languages is on Pro. Go to Settings, then Labels and find the Label languages section. The app writes materials in all 24 EU languages, using the official EU wording, and the section lists every one that is not your store's own. Turn on the ones you sell into.

The app checks which languages your store already sells in and tells you when your labels have fewer. If your store is published in French and your labels are not, the section says so and offers to add it in one click - shoppers reading that language need the materials in it too.

Headings like Materials and Care are filled in for every language, and you can change any of them in the same place if your shop uses a different word.

Washing and drying instructions are written for every language too. If you want them in your own words instead, type them into the care note, which takes any language.

Which one a shopper sees

One. Their own, if you have turned it on, and your store's language if you have not. A shopper never sees a stack of translations - each label is written in every language you turned on, and the product page picks the right one and shows only that.

Missing names

Occasionally a material has no name on file for a language you have turned on. When that happens the app refuses to show that product. Open it and the top of the page says A translation is missing, and names the material and the language.

That is on purpose. A German page reading "cotton" is not a German label, and quietly falling back to English would look correct while being wrong. Either remove that language or contact support so the name can be added.

After changing languages

Nothing to do. Products that are already on your store are rewritten for you in the background, so the new languages appear on them without you opening anything.