Top 5 Multilingual Apps in Shopify Appstore

Abhishek Aggarwal
5 min readOct 5, 2019

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Why is it necessary for a business to have an ecommerce website these days?

A website is the most necessary tool for a business to give their brand an online identity. It also helps in striking a very good first impression in the minds of potential customers. Connecting with diverse audience groups who might eventually become your target user segment (even if they are not as of now), is always beneficial to any business.

But does a plain website do justice to your ambition of catering to such diverse global audiences? Don’t you want to pack some extra punch and create an instant connect with your buyers? And what is the simplest way to do this?

You guessed it right, talking to them in their native language through your multilingual website. If your website is capable of reaching out to different people in their respective native languages, it helps build a level of trust. And this simple change goes a long way in building your brand image.

How does Shopify help you get on with it?

Shopify has various apps in its app store that helps your website attain this functionality. It helps with increasing the visibility of your website because of global indexing in different languages. Shopify’s various plans Basic, Shopify, Advanced and Shopify Plus give you the option of integrating different apps with your online store to help with the same.

These apps are very easy to integrate with your store and have a user-friendly UI. Some of the most suitable options are as follows:

1. Langify

Probably one of the most versatile options in the Shopify app store, it is good enough to give your storefront a global appeal. If you own an enterprise business and avail a higher plan such as Shopify Plus, you need this app. Installation is simple and instant.

It also accommodates integration with other apps. Shopify supports only the English language. So Langify is certainly a viable option to make up for this drawback. With support for almost every language, be sure to check it out.

Langify supports all languages supported by SEO. It helps with website global visibility. It also supports Right-to-Left (RTL) languages also given. You can even export your translated website content in CSV, gettext, XLIFF, JSON.

Cons

  • Initial multilingual setup can be time-consuming. You need to translate your website’s content beforehand you publish it. So your content has to be translated into different languages individually.
  • Hence translation is not really automatic unless you manually translate your content and then publish it.

2. Weglot Translate

It’s another powerful plugin in the Shopify app store the can help your website get the proper multilingual hallmark. With an intuitive and user-friendly interface, it has garnered a lot of following.

Support is quick and responsive to help out the users too. It’s fully equipped to give your storefront the visibility it needs for a global audience.

Weglot simplifies automatic translation. It is compatible with Shopify themes. It also has an ‘In-context’ editor tool to translate your content directly inside your website design. It also supports RTL languages. Weglot has advanced SEO features with multilingual support.

Cons

  • Credit Card info required and they might charge you for things you think are free but aren’t. You just need to be informed of the features.
  • A bit pricey.

3. LangShop

LangShop has been another easy to use Shopify add-on with adequate multi-language functionalities. If you have an established offline business and are looking to get the online visibility you expect, you can try LangShop.

It will give your ecommerce website the right appeal by supporting multiple languages. With plenty of customization options, you can even input custom flag images.

LangShop has an ‘Easy to use’ native Shopify interface. It has provision for REST API, quite developer-friendly. It also provides a currency changing feature. It relies on translators like Google, Yandex. It helps you with competent sitemap helps with better indexing.

Cons

  • No RTL language support.
  • The language of the text in an image can’t be translated.

4. Multilingual Shop by GTranslate

Powered by Google Translate, this app is one of the most useful and easy to manage. Most of the features here are handed out for free. Many other apps charge you money for these features. If you even go for their paid subscription, you get extra features to enhance the visibility of your website.

The provision of live chat helps out the customers real quick in case they run into any trouble. This app is very much capable of tackling language barriers and make your ecommerce website more accessible.

Multilingual Shop has features like live chat support and analytics in the free version. It supports URL translations too. It has a Centralized Translation Cache — translation is improved over time. It also facilitates Language Hosting (e.g. custom domain example.fr for French). It allows ‘In-context’ translations as well.

Cons

  • Some bugs while uninstalling the app if you don’t want to use it anymore. The settings still stay after uninstall.
  • Translations issues. Sometimes the translations can be buggy.

5. Panda Language Translate

Panda Translate is very easy to use an addon to give your website the multilingual functionality. Installation is simple and translations are automatic without any hassle.

The app’s interface is simple and understandable. If you are looking for speed and ease of use, combined with competitive pricing of the app, Panda Translate doesn’t disappoint.

Panda language translate is easy to handle and less intrusive in the existing website structure. It also supports RTL languages. Translations done by Panda are dynamic and automatic.

Cons

  • The use of Google translate creates a scope of inaccuracy.
  • A lot of issues related to elements on the website left untranslated.

Conclusion

Well, as you can see, there are a host of apps that help you turn your website multilingual. Alas! none of them is perfect. There are issues with each one of them. Almost every app in Shopify’s app store for this feature has feedbacks regarding translation issues or bugs. If you really need a well-rounded option for your Shopify store. If you have an existing global reach, users will expect a perfect multi-language functionality. They will expect flawless translation from English to whatever their native language is.

You can also try out various other platforms like StoreHippo with integrated multilingual support and automatic translations which are included along with the plan. Why pay extra? Why work with a third party when you have platforms available with such integrated features?

Choose well !!!

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Abhishek Aggarwal

He is an ecommerce expert with 7+ years of experience.With hands-on experience of handling B2B and B2C ecommerce projects