--- title: "Translate Shopify Without a Translation App" description: "Translate Shopify without a translation app: a bot of our own writes seven languages straight into Shopify, with glossary, checks and rollback. Plus: languages and URLs in Shopify Markets." canonical_url: "https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog/shopify-native-translation" last_updated: "2026-10-20" --- [Blog](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog) # Translate Shopify Without a Translation App: Seven Languages, Native in the Store Shopify can store and serve translations itself. At LOULEX, a bot of our own fills those fields every hour in seven languages, with a glossary, checks, a log and rollback. The 299 € a month translation service is gone. This is how it's built. [Kevin Ludwig](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/team/kevin-ludwig) 6 Oct 2026 , Updated 20 Oct 2026 , 6 min read [Auf Deutsch lesen](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/de/blog/shopify-nativ-uebersetzen) Contents 1. Multilingual Shopify: what Shopify already does 2. What our bot does every hour 3. The glossary protects the brand 4. The check is strict where it hurts 5. Traceable and reversible 6. What it brought at LOULEX 7. Frequently asked questions Anyone who wants to translate a Shopify store quickly ends up with a translation app or an external service. At LOULEX it was a service that sat in front of the store as a layer and swapped the text only on the way out. That had three catches: the translations lived in someone else's system, not in Shopify. They could only be edited there. And the service cost 299 € a month. Today a bot of our own translates directly in Shopify, once an hour, in seven languages. This article shows what Shopify already brings to the table and how the bot is built. Where the translations live Before: translation service 1. Shopify only knows German 2. Translation service swaps text on the way out 3. Customers abroad The translations live with the provider. They can only be edited there, and the service cost 299 € a month. Today: our own bot 1. Bot once an hour 2. Shopify stores all seven languages 3. Customers abroad The translations live in the store. Shopify serves them itself, even if the bot isn't running. ## Multilingual Shopify: what Shopify already does Shopify stores translations natively and serves them itself. For Google, the structure matters as well: languages per market, a URL per language, hreflang and sitemaps. Shopify handles most of that on its own. | Task | Does Shopify handle it? | | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Store and serve translations | Yes, per language for products, collections, pages and menus | | Theme text such as footer, buttons and cart | Yes, in separate fields that have to be translated as well | | Set languages per market | Yes, in Shopify Markets, with a default language per market | | A URL per language | Yes, for example with /fr at the start of the path | | hreflang and sitemap | Yes, for all published languages | | Number of languages | Up to 20, up to 30 on Shopify Plus | | Translate automatically | With Shopify's own Translate & Adapt app: up to eight languages for stores in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other European countries, otherwise two | | Keep new and changed text up to date | Partly: Translate & Adapt translates it once a week with Auto-sync, in the countries listed | A mistake we see when we check stores: products and pages are translated, the theme text isn't. Footer, buttons and cart notes stay German because they live in separate fields. Every page then shows two languages side by side, and your customers notice right away. So the fields are there. What's missing is someone who fills them and keeps them current, with a glossary and checks. That's exactly what the bot does. When Shopify's free app is enough on its own is covered in [Translate & Adapt: when the app is enough](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog/shopify-translate-and-adapt-limits). ## What our bot does every hour The process is deliberately small and starts over every hour: One run of the bot 1. Look What's missing or outdated? 2. Translate with Claude, against the glossary 3. Safeguard Check anything odd goes to quarantine 4. Write as a native Shopify translation 5. Report every change by email The bot also writes into the theme's language files. Footer, buttons and cart are translated just like the products. The source stays German, maintained in the Shopify admin as before. Seven languages, around 14,000 words per language. The next run picks up new or changed text without anyone having to trigger it. Another language doesn't mean another subscription. It gets enabled in Shopify, receives its glossary entries, and the next runs translate the catalog. That costs model usage once, and afterwards only for new and changed text. Shopify sets the limit at 20 languages, 30 on Shopify Plus. ## The glossary protects the brand A model happily translates everything, including product names and technical terms. The glossary defines how brand and technical terms are translated and what never gets translated. Without that list, automatic translation is a matter of luck. ## The check is strict where it hurts Translating is the easy part. The difference lies in the check afterwards. HTML and Liquid code must stay unchanged, and so must links, numbers and placeholders. Anything odd goes to quarantine instead of into the store. If findings pile up, the run stops. That way a broken placeholder doesn't land in seven languages at once. An example of how the check decides: | Source | Translation | Result | | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------- | | Nur noch {{ count }} auf Lager | Only {{ count }} left in stock | Goes into the store | | Nur noch {{ count }} auf Lager | Solo quedan {{ cuenta }} | Quarantine: placeholder changed | | Gratis-Versand ab 50 € | Free shipping from 60 € | Quarantine: number changed | ## Traceable and reversible Every run writes a log with the previous values. A rollback undoes a complete run. Fields the team corrected in the Shopify admin themselves stay untouched. There's also a hard limit: at most 5,000 words and 300 fields per hour. That keeps costs predictable and stops a mistake from hitting the whole catalog. ## What it brought at LOULEX LOULEX, translation per month - Translation service in front of the store - 299 € - gone 299 € less, every month - languages as native Shopify translations, maintained from the German source 7 - words per language, new and changed text updated every hour \~14,000 Source: [LOULEX case study](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/referenzen/loulex-shopify-uebersetzungspipeline) And the translations belong to the store. They live in Shopify, not in someone else's system. The translation was one part of the rebuild. At the same time six apps went out, and their features now sit in the theme. How we chose them is in the article [Replace Shopify apps](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog/replace-shopify-apps-theme). Numbers and details of the whole project: [LOULEX: six apps out, seven languages in our own hands](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/referenzen/loulex-shopify-uebersetzungspipeline). The [Shopify-Check](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/leistungen/shopify-check) shows how much text in your language versions is still in the source language and whether Google finds them: enter your store address, first results in seconds. ## Frequently asked questions Can you translate Shopify without a translation app? Yes. Shopify stores translations itself. You can fill them with Shopify's own Translate & Adapt app (automatic for up to eight languages, depending on the store's country), via CSV import, or with your own solution through the Admin API, as in the example above. How do I translate my Shopify store into another language? Add the language under Languages in the settings, publish it and assign it to the right market in Shopify Markets. Then fill in the text: with Translate & Adapt, via CSV import, or with your own solution through the Admin API. Don't forget the theme text such as footer, buttons and cart: it lives in separate fields. How many languages does Shopify support? Up to 20 languages in one store, up to 30 on Shopify Plus. You decide in Shopify Markets which language is offered in which market. What does another language cost? No extra subscription. Translating the catalog the first time costs model usage once, and afterwards only for new and changed text. What happens to the translations if the bot is switched off? They stay in the store. They are native Shopify translations, so Shopify keeps serving them. New text would then have to be translated by hand or some other way. ## How we work Whether switching pays off for your store depends on your languages, the amount of text and your current setup. We clarify that in a first call, then continue with your real product texts, for example in a 10-day pilot. [Book a first call](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/kontakt#termin) A first conversation takes 30 minutes. [More on Shopify development](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/leistungen/shopify-development) Tags: [Shopify](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog?tag=Shopify) , [Translation](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog?tag=Translation) , [Multilingual](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog?tag=Multilingual) , [Shopify Apps](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog?tag=Shopify%20Apps) , [AI](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog?tag=AI) , [E-Commerce](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog?tag=E-Commerce) Written by [Kevin Ludwig](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/team/kevin-ludwig) Engineering & Product Ships systems that people use every day: web apps, internal systems, AI pipelines, own products. Along the way: Porsche projects at MHP, research at Mercedes-Benz, technical lead of software development at Advanced UniByte. [View profile](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/team/kevin-ludwig) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kev-ludwig/) ## Related - Reference ### [LOULEX: six apps out, seven languages in our own hands](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/referenzen/loulex-shopify-uebersetzungspipeline) 6 apps out, plus the translation subscription. The monthly licence cost is gone - Service: Shopify ### [Shopify stores that load fast and don't depend on a pile of apps.](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/leistungen/shopify-development) - Service: AI consulting, Stuttgart region ### [AI consulting in Stuttgart, Reutlingen and Tübingen. With software, not slides.](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/leistungen/ai-consulting-stuttgart) [All articles](https://preview.kevinludwig.com/en/blog) ## What are you working on? 30 minutes on video with Kevin Ludwig, free of charge. 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