Lesson 50. Content — Languages & Translations

In this video, we will learn how to manage languages and translations in CS-Cart e-commerce builder.

The first thing that you need to know about translating internet shop platform is that there is two types of translations — the content translation, and localisation. The content translation is simply put the name, description, values—everything related to a separate product, category, or page that can be translated to other languages. Localisation is the translation of the interface, add-ons, and other proper names not related to the content of the store.

If we switch to a different language on a content panel, the content of product fields will change according to the selected language. But the language of the interface stays the same. And if we switch to a different localisation, interface changes completely, but the content stays the same. So, don’t forget to switch content languages of your online store website builder when you want to edit something in a different language.

The Manage languages page provides two tabs — Installed — the languages installed in your store; and Available — the languages you can install. Available tab is used when you need to install a language that you had previously uninstalled, or the language was added with an update.

The language properties of website builder for online store are simple. A Language code — a two-character value to distinguish languages from each other. An official language name. And a country where this language is official. This setting adds a country name and a flag right next to it. Now we are going to explain how you can translate CS-Cart.

The first method is to download an existing translation. Go to translate.cs-cart.com, find the desired language, and download the archive. Then upload and install this archive in CS-Cart. The new language will appear in the list of installed languages.

The second method is to translate CS-Cart via Crowdin platform. Existing translations are made by CS-Cart users at Crowdin platform. Crowdin is a web service for collaborative translation, which allows any community member to contribute to the CS-Cart translations. That’s where our translation come from.

The third method is to create a new translation. Before you begin make sure that the desired language is not on the list of available languages, and that there is no such language at translate.cs-cart.com or Crowdin. You will need to clone one of the existing languages to copy variables, and then you can begin to translate CS-Cart into your own language. We recommend to start translating from a storefront by using the Edit content on-site feature. After everything was translated on a storefront, you can translate all the rest on the Translations page. And we got some tips for you.

Do not translate or remove the words in square brackets written in lowercase because these are variables automatically replaced with an appropriate value when they appear on the storefront. For example, [product] will be replaced with the corresponding product name. Translate the words written in square brackets in uppercase. These are the notifications generated by the Upgrade Center and they need to be translated.

And that’s all that you need to know about translations in CS-Cart best storefront software.