We are experiencing a very strange issue with the Portuguese (Portugal) language in our Shopify Plus store, and I’m hoping someone here can confirm whether this is a known Shopify API problem.
What’s happening
All our PT-PT translations were fully completed months ago.
They still appear correctly on the storefront, so the data is not lost.
But in the admin and in all translation apps (Langshop, T Lab, and Shopify’s native translation tool), the Portuguese (Portugal) translations no longer appear.
Other languages (EN, FR, ES) are completely normal.
The issue seems to have started 1–2 days ago.
What Shopify Support told us
Shopify Support checked the issue and escalated it internally.
They mentioned that this might happen when exporting/importing themes if translations are not theme-based (e.g. product descriptions), but our theme had no major changes and translations remain visible on the storefront.
What T Lab told us
T Lab shared the following:
“There is an issue with the Chinese/Portuguese languages in the Shopify API at the moment, affecting all native translation apps.
Existing translations are still in place, but you won’t be able to see them in the apps until Shopify fixes this.”
They confirmed:
“It comes from the Shopify multi-language API, not from our app.”
My questions to the community
Is anyone else experiencing missing PT-PT or Chinese translations only in the admin/apps, while they still show correctly on the storefront?
Can anyone confirm this is an ongoing Shopify multi-language API issue?
Is there a known workaround while Shopify works on a fix?
We are close to launching, so any insight or confirmation from other merchants, partners, or developers would be really helpful.
Yep, you’re definitely not alone on this one. What you’re describing with PT-PT (Portuguese – Portugal) missing inside the admin and translation apps — but still rendering perfectly on the storefront — matches an ongoing issue we’ve also seen across multiple Shopify stores in the last couple of days.
What we’ve observed
All resource translations (products, collections, metafields, etc.) are still present on the storefront.
Inside Shopify Admin, the PT-PT language loads as if it has no translations.
Third-party translation apps (T Lab, Langshop, Hextom, etc.) all fail to fetch the language through the Shopify Translations API, returning empty results.
Other languages behave normally, just like in your case.
Confirms Shopify API-side issue
Our internal tests point to the same conclusion T Lab mentioned — this is not an app-specific issue, but a problem with Shopify’s multi-language API, specifically affecting:
Portuguese (Portugal)
Chinese variants
We’re seeing identical symptoms across several Plus stores, so this is definitely wider than a single merchant.
Why the storefront still works
Shopify’s storefront uses cached and published translations, not the live API responses that apps/admin rely on.
That’s why nothing appears broken on the frontend.
Current status
Shopify has acknowledged the issue to multiple partners (including us) and escalated it internally. No ETA yet — but it is on their radar.
Possible workarounds (limited)
Unfortunately, since the API isn’t returning translations for PT-PT, apps cannot sync or re-import them until Shopify fixes the endpoint.
These are the only partial workarounds we’ve seen:
Do not re-save or re-import translations right now — it may overwrite blank data.
Avoid switching PT-PT to unpublished — some stores saw the admin wipe the visible translations temporarily.
Export translations via theme files (only for theme-based strings) if you must back them up.
But nothing fully restores visibility in the admin until the API is corrected.
Looking for confirmation?
Yes — several merchants + partners are experiencing the exact same behaviour as of the last 24–48 hours. You’re not the only one, and it’s almost certainly Shopify-side.
Final note
If your launch is coming up soon, the good news is:
your storefront translations are safe.
The backend visibility issue should resolve once Shopify patches the API.
Happy to share more technical details or test anything on our end if needed.
Shopify Chat/Help Center told me that the issue with the Translation API should be fixed now… However, I still don’t see any translations in the back office. Can anyone confirm if it has been fixed?