Languages and markets

Rail is written in English. If you sell in other languages or countries, you translate the text with Shopify's tools and shoppers pick their country and language from selectors in the header and footer.

Translate your store

Rail's built-in storefront text (buttons, labels, messages such as "Add to bag") and the text you type in the theme editor (headings, button labels, announcements) are both translatable with Shopify's free Translate & Adapt app. The theme itself ships with an English language file.

1. In the Shopify admin, go to Settings > Languages and add the languages you want to sell in. Publish them when they are ready.
2. Install Translate & Adapt from the Shopify App Store.
3. Open the app, choose a language and translate the Online Store > Theme content (your section text and the theme's built-in text), plus your products, collections, pages, navigation and policies.
4. Check each language on the storefront using the language selector, and check long words on phones.

Tips: keep headings short so translations still fit in the giant masthead and the dock; use the Heading case setting (Theme settings > Typography) with care in languages whose letters change when capitalized.

Country and language selectors

Rail shows native country/region and language dropdowns. They appear only when your store actually has more than one market or more than one published language. With a single market and a single language, nothing is shown.

• Header: select the Header section and add the Country / language block (max 1). Turn Show country/region selector and Show language selector on or off independently.
• Footer: add the Country / language block to the Footer (max 1). It has a Heading (default "Region and language") and the same two checkboxes.

Changing a selector reloads the page in the chosen country and language, with prices in the matching currency.

Markets, currency and prices

Which countries you sell to, the currencies and the prices are set in Shopify under Settings > Markets, not in the theme. Rail shows whatever Shopify returns for the shopper's market.

Show currency codes Theme settings > Currency format

Adds the currency code after prices (for example $65.00 CAD). A good idea if several of your markets use a dollar sign.

Free shipping threshold Theme settings > Cart

Entered in your store currency and converted for other markets for display. Real shipping rates come from Shopify. See Free shipping bar.

International checklist

• Translate the theme content, products and policies for every published language.
• Add the Country / language block to the header, the footer or both.
• Check the free shipping bar in each market, and compare it with your shipping rates in Shopify.
• If you use Shopify's pre-built prices per market, check the prices on a product and in the cart for each market.
• Test checkout in each language you publish.