Issue with international domains and language switcher

[miguelcb]

Hello,

I have been trying to setup international domains into my store but I have been facing some issues with the language switcher.

My store's domain is https://torresnovas1845.com

I also own the https://torresnovas1845.pt, and I have it targeting the Portuguese market, with Portuguese as default language but also with English and Spanish available.

When I go to https://torresnovas1845.pt I see the site in Portuguese, but if I change the language to English or Spanish, and then back to Portuguese, I get a 404 error, since it tries to load https://torresnovas1845.pt/pt-PT/, which is equivalent to to https://torresnovas1845.com/pt-pt/pt-pt and does not exist.

How can I fix this? Is there a workaround?

Thank you very much!

[mrsun]

hey man

i just checked your website. very nice design. i wanted to ask how did you put language selection at the top of website? did you install an app or something, and what is translated languages in settings option: setting>store languages>translated languages>unpublished languages. What is this option? Does text translate automatically? 

thanks

sunny

[miguelcb]

Hi @mrsun, I use the "Translate My Store" app, but had to translate everything manually.

[coleatkinson]

Which Shopify language switcher are you referring to? The Geolocation app or something else?

[mrsun]

I haven't installed any app, i'm referring to setting>store languages>translated languages>unpublished languages. 

do i have to install an app?

[coleatkinson]

I am referring to this language switcher on the header of your site:

This is not coming from Shopify, I suspect this is coming from the "Translate my Store" app you are using, and I would suggest reaching out to them to describe your issue and to ensure their app is compatible with international domains.

[mrsun]

i don't have a language switcher on my header. how do i do that? install language app?

also i'm using brooklyn theme. my currency switcher is at the footer. how can i put the currency switcher in the header?

thanks

sun

[coleatkinson]

@mrsun I apologize I was meaning for this to be for @miguelcb!

Yes you will need to offer your buyers the ability to switch languages - the Brooklyn theme has one built into the theme settings (Themes --> Customize --> Footer), or you can use Shopify's Geolocation app.

[mrsun]

i'm sorry i'm confused. I don't have that option for some reason. "Brooklyn theme has one built into the theme settings (Themes --> Customize --> Footer)"

do i need to go settings, language options, and publish languages?

also how do i put currency switcher and language switcher from footer to header in brooklyn. i don't understand why put in footer where no one can see.

thanks

[Transcy]

Hi @mrsun,

We’re from the Transcy translation & currency converter app. We’re here to help you with this.

With our Language & Currency switcher, you can easy to customize the position in your store and responsive to the Brooklyn theme. They include embedded in the page header, top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right position.

Hope our suggestions can help you solve it.

Best,

Transcy team

[coleatkinson]

Hi @Transcy team! Is your app compatible with Shopify's translation API and Shopify Payments multi currency? If so I will make sure this is added on our side as well.

@mrsun if you don't have the language switcher option in your Brooklyn theme, our theme support team would be happy to help guide you with what is wrong!

[mrsun]

that's okay.

how can i change my language switcher and currency switcher from footer to header?

thanks

Sunny

[miguelcb]

Hi @coleatkinson, thank you for your reply!

I meant the "normal" language selector at the bottom of my store:

I also tried with the geolocation selector and it also doesn't appear if I only have "Portuguese" available for my .pt domain.

I'm aware that the Translate My Store switcher does not work with international domains, but if I get the normal switcher or the geolocation app's to work, I would try to replace the Translate my Store switcher for one of the others.

Additionally, when I go to www.torresnovas1845.pt for the first time (even in an incognito window) it automatically forwards to www.torresnovas1845.pt/pt-PT/ and I get a 404 error. 

I have international domains active for now, could you try to see it, please? (I don't want to have it active for too long to avoid loosing sales due to this issues 🙂 )

Thank you very much!

[coleatkinson]

Hi @miguelcb, as I understand it this is your desired setup:

• www.torresnovas1845.com targets United States in USD and English
• www.torresnovas1845.pt targets Portugal in Euro and Portuguese

To achieve all of this with both currencies, unfortunately you need to be in a region that supports Shopify Payments. However, these are the steps I would recommend you follow to achieve the closest possible setup to this:

• In your domain settings, go to your .pt domain and click on Manage. Select Don't redirect to primary domain, and then target Portugal in the Country/Region section and also select the languages you want people to be able to see on this domain.
• Go to your .com domain in your domain settings and follow the same steps as above, instead this time you will need to ensure None is selected in the Country/Region section and then also select the languages you want people to be able to see on the .com domain. This domain will now essentially be targeting "Rest of World" for you.

Then, the Geolocation app will automatically show the language switcher on each domain, but only if there are multiple language options (e.g. if you only make Portuguese available on your .pt domain, and only make English available on your .com domain, then no language options will be presented on each domain).

I could not reproduce what you mention about automatically being redirected to /pt-pt - when I go to your .pt domain, it is automatically redirecting to .com at the moment.

That being said the steps above should achieve your desired outcome, let us know how you go or if you are still having trouble please don't hesitate to reach out to the Shopify support team!

[miguelcb]

Hi @coleatkinson, thank you very much for your answer.

I had unabled the international domains to avoid the 404 error, but I have just implemented what you mentioned in your message. Could you check it now, please?

My desired setup is:

• www.torresnovas1845.com targets ROW in Euro and English (but with Portuguese and Spanish available as well)
• www.torresnovas1845.pt targets Portugal in Euro and Portuguese (but with English and Spanish available as well)

Thank you very much!

[coleatkinson]

Hey @miguelcb,

This seems to be an issue with the language selector that the Translate my store app is rendering in your theme.

I would raise this issue with them directly, but additionally it looks like you have made your primary domain, http://torresnovas1845.com, setup to have English, Spanish, and Portuguese options.

If you want to use https://torresnovas1845.pt to target Portugal, then remove Portuguese as a language option on your primary domain, go into the options to Manage your .pt domain and set it up to target Portugal with Portuguese as the default language on that domain.

Let us know how you get on.

[miguelcb]

Dear @coleatkinson,

Thank you very much for your answer.

The issue I reported occurs with the normal shopify languages selector, but I'm aware that once I have this fixed, I will also have to change Translate My Store's language switcher or substitute it for the Shopify one.

I followed your steps, but if I only have "Portuguese" available for my .pt domain, then the Shopify language switcher disappears, and clients aren't able to change to English if they want/need. How could I fix that? Is there a way to have the language switcher forward the user to the right subdomain?

Kind regards,

Miguel