How to Translate Shopify Checkout and Email Notifications
You've translated your products and collections. But if your checkout still says "Shipping address" in English to a Japanese customer, you've broken the experience right at the moment they're about to pay.
Here's how to translate every customer touchpoint — from checkout to post-purchase emails.
What Needs Translating (The Full List)
Checkout Flow
- Contact information labels
- Shipping address form fields
- Shipping method descriptions
- Payment method labels
- Order summary text
- Discount code field
- Terms and conditions checkbox
- Error messages
Email Notifications (16+ templates)
- Order confirmation
- Shipping confirmation + tracking
- Delivery confirmation
- Refund notification
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Account welcome / password reset
- Gift card notification
- Return/exchange updates
Other Customer-Facing Text
- Payment gateway labels (PayPal, credit card form)
- Packing slip text
- SMS notifications (if enabled)
How Shopify Handles Checkout Translation
Good news: Shopify automatically translates most checkout UI elements when you enable a language through Markets. The standard labels ("Email", "First name", "Continue to shipping") are handled by Shopify's own translation layer.
What you need to translate manually:
- Custom checkout text — any text you've added to checkout (thank you page messages, custom notes)
- Shipping rate names — "Free Shipping", "Express 2-Day", etc.
- Payment method descriptions — custom gateway text
- Policy links — refund policy, privacy policy, terms of service
Important: Shopify Plus merchants with checkout.liquid customizations need to translate their custom additions separately. Standard Shopify checkout (non-Plus) is mostly auto-translated.
Translating Email Notifications
Method 1: Through Shopify's Translation System
Email templates are a translatable resource type in Shopify. When you add a language, Shopify makes the email subject lines and body text available for translation:
- Go to Settings → Languages
- Click on your target language
- Filter by "Email notifications" or "Notification templates"
- Translate each template's subject and body text
Shopify automatically sends the correct language version based on which language the customer was browsing in when they placed their order.
Method 2: Using a Translation App
Translation apps can bulk-translate all email templates at once. In LangSEO, email templates appear as the "Email Template" content type — select it, choose your target language, and translate all templates in one batch.
Things to Watch Out For
1. Liquid variables in emails
Email templates contain Liquid code like {{ order.name }} and {{ shipping_address.city }}. These must NOT be translated — they're code that Shopify replaces with actual data. A good translation tool will preserve these automatically.
2. Currency and number formatting
Shopify handles currency display based on the market/locale. You don't need to change "$49.99" to "49,99 €" in translations — Shopify does this automatically when the price is rendered via Liquid.
3. Subject lines matter
Email subject lines are often overlooked but they're the first thing customers see. "Your order is confirmed" should be translated naturally — not literally. In Japanese, "ご注文の確認" is better than a word-for-word translation.
4. Test your emails
After translating, place a test order in each language and verify the emails look correct. Check:
- Subject line is in the right language
- Body text is fully translated (no English fragments)
- Liquid variables still render correctly
- Links work and go to the right language version
The "Store Content" Category
Beyond emails, Shopify groups several other customer-facing text under translatable content types:
- Packing slip — printed with physical orders
- Payment gateway — custom text on payment providers
- Delivery methods — shipping rate names and descriptions
- Store content — navigation menus, filter labels, selling plans
These are easy to miss because they're not visible in your theme editor. Make sure your translation coverage includes them.
Priority Order for Checkout/Email Translation
- Order confirmation email — every customer sees this
- Shipping confirmation — second most common email
- Shipping rate names — visible during checkout decision
- Abandoned cart email — revenue recovery depends on language
- Account emails — welcome, password reset
- Refund/return emails — trust during sensitive interactions
- All remaining templates
Translate in this order to cover the highest-impact touchpoints first.
Ready to translate your store?
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