Solved

Site in another language on subdomain

Andreas90
Shopify Partner
17 0 5

Hello everyone,

 

I've searched a lot in the couple of days regarding multi-language stores on Shopify but did not really find the results I was looking for.

My store has only 5 products and is overall rather small, so I have no problem translating everything manually.

 

The main shop is in German on www.exampledomain.com. Now what I want is an English version of the shop on www.en.exampledomain.com

 

Here is where the questions start for me:

1. I bought the domain from a third party, so I need to setup the sub-domain also there and then connect it to Shopify. Is this correct?

2. Can I duplicate my current theme from exampledomain.com to en.exampledomain.com and then just change the words from German to English?

3. Does step 2. require an additional Shopify-plan? Right now, I use the basic one.

4. Can I change the product names in the URLs from German to English on the subdomain?

 

Overall, from the posts in this forum, I think that a lot of people would appreciate a proper solution for handling multi-language stores. Would be great if Shopify plans to or is currently working on a solution! 🙂

Greetings

Accepted Solution (1)

Trevor
Community Moderator
3391 459 977

This is an accepted solution.

Hey, @Andreas90!

 

Excellent questions! I'll dive into the answers below. 

 

1. I bought the domain from a third party, so I need to set up the sub-domain also there and then connect it to Shopify. Is this correct?

A: That is correct! You can set up a subdomain with your third-party domain provider, then point the CName record(s) to shops.myshopify.com

 

2. Can I duplicate my current theme from exampledomain.com to en.exampledomain.com and then just change the words from German to English?

A: Also, yes! You can download your theme by going to Online Store/Themes/Actions/Download Theme File. You can then import this theme into another Shopify store. 

 

3. Does step 2. require an additional Shopify-plan? Right now, I use the basic one.

A: Yes, it would. All domains added to the domains section will point to the same website. If you want to have a language-specific subdomain, then you will need a secondary Shopify account. 

 

4. Can I change the product names in the URLs from German to English on the subdomain?

A: We do not currently support this and would require that the URLs be in English (i.e. collections/products). However, we do have an existing feature request going that I can add your vote to as our developers are looking into getting this added to the platform. 

 

Alternatively, if you choose not to use a language-specific subdomain, then you could consider using a language app to provide multi-translations on your website. The apps require fluent knowledge of the languages you choose; however, the downfall is that your checkout can only be one language, which is not something these apps can override. 

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Trevor | Community Moderator @ Shopify
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

View solution in original post

Replies 5 (5)

Trevor
Community Moderator
3391 459 977

This is an accepted solution.

Hey, @Andreas90!

 

Excellent questions! I'll dive into the answers below. 

 

1. I bought the domain from a third party, so I need to set up the sub-domain also there and then connect it to Shopify. Is this correct?

A: That is correct! You can set up a subdomain with your third-party domain provider, then point the CName record(s) to shops.myshopify.com

 

2. Can I duplicate my current theme from exampledomain.com to en.exampledomain.com and then just change the words from German to English?

A: Also, yes! You can download your theme by going to Online Store/Themes/Actions/Download Theme File. You can then import this theme into another Shopify store. 

 

3. Does step 2. require an additional Shopify-plan? Right now, I use the basic one.

A: Yes, it would. All domains added to the domains section will point to the same website. If you want to have a language-specific subdomain, then you will need a secondary Shopify account. 

 

4. Can I change the product names in the URLs from German to English on the subdomain?

A: We do not currently support this and would require that the URLs be in English (i.e. collections/products). However, we do have an existing feature request going that I can add your vote to as our developers are looking into getting this added to the platform. 

 

Alternatively, if you choose not to use a language-specific subdomain, then you could consider using a language app to provide multi-translations on your website. The apps require fluent knowledge of the languages you choose; however, the downfall is that your checkout can only be one language, which is not something these apps can override. 

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Trevor | Community Moderator @ Shopify
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

Andreas90
Shopify Partner
17 0 5

Hi @Trevor,

 

Thank you for the quick reply.

In that case, I'll probably wait and see my German store grow first before adding an English version on a subdomain to it.

 

Regarding you last paragraph and the checkout, it seems like weglot has found a way to handle this:
https://support.weglot.com/article/93-shopify---edition---how-to-edit-the-shopify-checkout-page-tran...

 

But I'm not sure if I understand them correctly here.

 

Thanks again!

weglot-team
Shopify Partner
32 0 7

Hi @Andreas90

 

I'm Eugene from the Weglot team.

 

Yes, you're right! You can follow this guide to translate your checkout. If you have any question on Weglot, please contact us at support@weglot.com

 

Best,

Eugene

Tulay
Tourist
11 0 0

Hi Peter,

I have an online shop from Shopify in Belgium. I work with a dropshipping company called Bigbuy. I sell to Belgium, Netherlands, France and Germany. My store's language is Dutch. However, since I am in Belgium, I have to sell in 2 different languages. When I add French to the language of the store in Shopify, only the information on the theme is French. My products and collections are still in Dutch.

When customers enter www.tomybazaar.com, I want them to view my products and collections either in French or Dutch. I want to open 2 different shopify stores on a single domain. I opened second store. But i don’t know to merge for these two store. Can you help me ?

Best regards 

Tulay

victortan429
New Member
7 0 0

Hi I wanted know which is better for SEO if I have a multi-country store , subdomain or subdirectories ?

learning never end