Language Files (Locales)

What You’ll Learn

• What locale files are and where they live in your theme

• How to customize text labels throughout your storefront

• How to add new languages and manage translations

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🧩 What Are Locale Files?

Locale files control all the translatable text in your Shopify theme. These are stored as .json files inside your theme's locales folder. Each file represents one language (e.g., en.default.json for English).

You’ll see translations for things like:

• Button labels (e.g., “Add to Cart”)

• Section headings

• System messages (e.g., “No products found”)

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📁 File Location in Your Theme

plain-jane-theme
  └── locales
        ├── en.default.json
        ├── fr.default.json
        └── es.default.json

Each file contains a set of key-value pairs, where the key is the identifier and the value is the translatable text.

Example:

"products": {
  "product": {
    "add_to_cart": "Add to Cart"
  }
}

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✏️ How to Edit Text Labels

1. From your Shopify Admin, go to Online Store > Themes

2. Click Customize next to your current theme

3. In the theme editor, click the three-dot menu (⋯) > Edit default theme content

1. Use the search bar to find any text you want to update (e.g., “Sold Out”)

2. Change the value and click Save

💡 This is the easiest way to rename buttons like “Buy Now” or “Learn More” without touching code.

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🌍 Adding or Managing Multiple Languages

To offer your store in more than one language:

1. Go to Settings > Languages in your admin

2. Add the languages you want to support

3. Shopify will automatically generate the new .json locale files in your theme

4. You can then translate content using:

   • Shopify’s admin UI

   • Translation apps (like Weglot or Langify)

   • Manually editing the .json files (developer-level)

⚠️ Be sure to update metafields and custom content for each language too if you're using those.

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🧠 Developer Notes

You can access locale strings in Liquid using the t filter:

{{ 'products.product.add_to_cart' | t }}

If you’re building or extending a theme, structure your locale keys by section or context (e.g., header, footer, cart, etc.) to keep things organized.

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