Case study 7: Adding data in multiple languages with import

If you’re using multiple languages in your store, you can import the following data in each of them:

• Product names
• Product descriptions
• Product ribbons
• Product subtitles
• Product and product variation “Brand” attributes
• Product “UPC” attributes
• Custom product attributes
• Product “price per unit” attributes
• Product option names
• Product option values
• Category names
• Category descriptions

You can import new products, new product options/variations, or new categories with corresponding translations, and you can also import translations for products and categories that already exist in your store. For product options and variations, however, you’ll need to list the full set of data on all the product options/variations that you want this product to have in your file.

Let’s say you want to add translations in French and German to the product from Case study 1 that already exists in your store. French translations for the name and product description are “Robe noire” and “La collection de cette saison”. German translations are “Schwarzes Kleid” and “Die Kollektion dieser Saison”.

To create an import file:

1. Open your spreadsheet editor.
2. Enter “type” in the first cell. Then enter “product” in the row below it:
   

   

   Now you’ve specified that the second row is about a product.
3. In the next column, enter “product_sku” and the SKU of the product (“A0001”):
   

   

   Now the translations in this row will be added to a product with this specific SKU.
   Optionally, you can add the “product_internal_id” column and the ID of the product, or you can use both the ID and SKU columns to specify which product the translations must be assigned to.
4. Next, you’ll need to create a column for your product name in French. You can do it by replacing the {Language code} part in the generic “product_name_{Language code}” column name. See the list of language codes in the CSV File Reference →
   So you need to add the “product_name_fr” column to the file header and “Robe noire” as the row value. This way, you will specify what your product name is in French:
   

   

5. Similarly, enter “product_name_de” and “Schwarzes Kleid” to specify what your product name is in German.
6. Next, you’ll need to create columns for your product description translations by replacing the {Language code} part in the generic “product_description_{Language code}” column name.
   Add the “product_description_fr” column to the file header and “La collection de cette saison” to specify what your product description is in French.
7. Similarly, enter “product_description_de” and “Die Kollektion dieser Saison” to specify what your product description is in German.
8. Now save/download the file as .csv to your device. In Google Sheets, you can do it by going to File → Download → Comma Separated Values (.csv).

That’s it! You’ve compiled a CSV file for translations into French and German that must be added to the existing “Black Dress” product in your store (you can find the “multiple_languages” file in the article attachments):

After you upload this file on the Catalog → Data Import & Export page, translations will be added to your product. Here’s how they will look on the General tab in your store admin:

Now you can choose any products/categories from your catalog and follow these instructions step by step to compile your own CSV file. If you need to add translations to several items, simply add rows with data on them to the same file:

For multilingual product options and variations, you’ll need to have a full set of data on all the product options/variations that you want this product to have in your CSV file.

See the list of available multilingual columns →