Languages

How do I translate my own banner and checkout messages?

Pick a language in the Language selector beside your text and write that version. Shoppers get their exact language first, then the bare language, then your default text.

Last reviewed October 19, 20263 min read

Every text field a shopper reads can be written once per language. Next to your text, pick a language in the Language selector and write that version. Default (every other language) is the text everyone else sees.

Where the Language selector is

  • A rule's Customize screen, under What it says: the banner or notice title, message and buttons. The preview beside it shows the language you picked.
  • The rule screen, on the On product pages, Suggest the other store and Block checkout cards.
  • The Checkout rules page, under Message language, which switches every message on that page at once.

The selector lists the languages your store publishes, including languages published on your other markets' domains. If it lists none, SignalLane has not read your store's languages yet.

Which version a shopper sees

SignalLane picks one field at a time, in this order:

  • The exact language, for example French (Canada) for a shopper browsing in fr-CA.
  • The bare language, for example French, when there is no French (Canada) version.
  • Your default text, and SignalLane's own sentence when that is empty too.

Leave a field empty in a language and those shoppers see your default text for that field only. A French title with no French message shows the French title and your default message.

Size limits

Checkout messages and checkout rules

Shopify allows only a small amount of data for checkout. Your checkout messages and your checkout rules each have to fit. When the translations do not fit, SignalLane leaves some languages out, your store's other languages first and its main language last, and a warning headed Some translations are not live names them on the rules list and the Checkout rules page. Shorten a message or remove a language to bring them back.

Everything else

Banner, notice and product words have far more room. If an edit would make your rules too large to publish, Save refuses it and says what to shorten, so a rule you saved is always one SignalLane can publish.

Translate many messages at once

The Translations page, reached from Translate beside a Language selector or from Settings, lists every message you typed and every language your store publishes. Shopify Sidekick can translate them into a file you import, for free, or AI can translate them, using credits. Translate your messages with Sidekick or AI.

Nothing is published without you

SignalLane shows exactly what you saved. A translation from Sidekick or AI arrives as a draft, and a shopper sees it only after you check it and save it, so a shopper never reads a translation you have not approved. Which languages SignalLane translates for you.

Questions and answers

Why is my language missing from the selector?
The selector lists the languages your store publishes. Languages appear once SignalLane has read your store's published languages, so a language you just added may take a little while to show.
What if I unpublish a language in Shopify?
Your translation is kept but no longer shown. Publish the language again and it comes back.

Was this helpful?

Related articles

  • LanguagesWhich languages do shoppers see?

    SignalLane's own text for shoppers comes in sixteen languages. The admin is in English, and the words you write are shown as you wrote them unless you translate them.

  • AI shopping readinessTranslate your SignalLane messages with Sidekick or AI

    Fill the language tabs of your banners, checkout messages, picture descriptions and checkout rules messages with Shopify Sidekick, free, or with AI, using credits. Every translation is a draft until you save.

  • Visitor rulesHow do I change how a banner looks?

    Set one look for every banner and notice on the Default look page, then give a single rule its own words and look on its Customize screen, beside a live preview.

  • Visitor rulesWhich words fill in for each visitor?

    Write {store}, {product}, {country} or {state} in a rule's words and each visitor reads the real name: the other store, the product, their country or their state/province.