Multiple Magento Languages
As we all know Magento is an open-source, cross-browser, multi-language piece of beautiful ecommerce software. However what a lot of people do not realise is that Magento does not come pre-equipped with all the latest language packs. By default it normally comes simply with En_US (American English).
What we need is to download the En_GB (British) language pack – main difference is the inclusion of VAT and Basket (rather than TAX and CART).
You can then follow the steps below to install this language pack – I have made a few changes to my GB file which you can download here.
It’s really easy to get different language packs for Magento – you can find them here: http://www.magentocommerce.com/langs.
What’s important to remember is that this is not a translation service – it only replaces those phrases that are changeable in the inline translation service. It does however save you a lot of time and effort. Another thing to remember is that these translations are never going to be 100% complete. As magento evolves the translation csv will also need to be amended. You can see a nice percentage number next to where you download the scripts – this indicates the amount of language conversion completed.
When you download a language you will find a folder (in UK example it would be en_GB) and a file named translate.csv within that folder. You should the folder containing the translate.csv into the appropriate “locale” folders. You will need to do this twice – I prefer to place my translate.csv into the following folders:
app>locale
and also into your theme directory
app>design>frontend>base>theme>locale
This should then apply your translations.
I hope this helps some of you who are struggling with the translations of magento – these language packs should give you a much needed boost – don’t forget you can also add to this file using the translate inline tool. You can also apply a different language to a different “website” on your magneto store. Just change your store view default language and it should be fine.
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A very good explanation Robert. At the time of writing I don’t think your translate.csv that you link to directly contains anything other than: “Keep your eyes open for our special Back to School items and save A LOT!”
I did visit the Magento languages section and downloaded the package from there and also made some suggestions of strings to change to basket, such as:
%s was added to your shopping cart.
%s was updated in your shopping cart.
Those examples at the moment don’t even exist in the UK package.