Vale (Theme documentation)

(Guides · Languages)

Languages and translations

Vale ships in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, both on the storefront and in the theme editor. Any other language can be added in Shopify, and every word the theme shows can be changed.

Storefront
English, Français, Italiano, Deutsch, Español: buttons, labels, cart, checkout links, account pages, error messages and the new shopping tools
Theme editor
The same five languages for every setting, help text and section name
Tone
Polite forms of address (vous, Lei, Sie, usted) and each language’s own punctuation
Right to left
Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu and other right-to-left languages flip the layout automatically

Add a language

  1. Add it in Shopify. Settings › Languages › Add language, then Publish it.
  2. Show the selector. In the theme editor, turn on Show language selector in the Header and/or the Footer. Add countries in Settings › Markets and turn on Show country/region selector to let shoppers switch currency too.
  3. Check a page. Pick the language in the selector: the page reloads in that language, with the same products and address.
(When does the selector show?)

Only when the store has more than one published language (or more than one country). With a single language there is nothing to choose, so it stays hidden.

Change the wording

Every word the theme shows can be reworded, in every published language, without touching code.

  1. Go to Online Store › Themes, open the ⋯ menu next to Vale and choose Edit default theme content.
  2. Choose the language at the top, search for the text (for example “Add to cart”) and type your own.
  3. Save. The change applies to that language only.

Translate your own content

Product titles and descriptions, collections, pages, blog posts, menus and the text you type into sections are your content, not the theme’s. Translate them with Shopify’s free Translate & Adapt app, by hand or with automatic translation to start from.

Languages Vale doesn’t include

Add the language in Settings › Languages as above, then fill in the theme’s wording in Translate & Adapt (or in Edit default theme content). Anything left empty falls back to English.

(Good to know)

Shopify translates its own parts (checkout, Shop Pay, the dynamic checkout button and customer account pages hosted by Shopify) for you.