Shopify Markets: Fixing Mixed Languages on Your Product Pages (Swedish & English Edition)

Hey everyone, let's talk about something many of us run into when expanding our stores globally: the dreaded language mix-up. It's super frustrating when you've put in all the effort to translate your store, but then your live product pages look like a linguistic potpourri – a bit of Swedish here, a dash of English there. It's not just annoying; it can seriously impact customer trust and conversions.

Recently, a store owner named Annika (@annika_6) brought this exact issue to the Shopify Community forums. She was seeing a mix of Swedish and English on her sporthast.com product pages, even though her translations looked perfect in the preview. Her store used Swedish for the Sweden market (on the root URL) and English for the International market (on /en/). Homepage elements were fine, but product descriptions and titles were English, while options like 'size' and 'color' were in Swedish. Sound familiar?

Unpacking the Mix-Up: Why Languages Go Astray

This is a classic scenario, and the community quickly jumped in with some excellent insights. The core of the problem often lies in how Shopify handles primary content versus translations, and how different elements of your store content are managed.

1. The Primary Language Fallback

Several experts, like @Moeed and @v.marychenka, pointed out a crucial detail: while Annika's Sweden market was set to Swedish, her store's primary content language was actually English. This means if a product's title, description, or other content didn't have a specific Swedish translation, Shopify would default back to the primary (English) version. This explains why some product content was English.

2. The Sneaky Option Names

This was a big one! As @vuminhtran and @adwaizer highlighted, things like product option names (e.g., "Size", "Color") are often translated separately from the main product titles and descriptions. What was happening to Annika was that some products had inconsistent option names (e.g., "Color" on some, "Färg" on others), or the base option name wasn't consistently set up for translation. Even if your theme translates "Size" to "Storlek" by default, if your product option is named "Dimension" in the admin, it won't be picked up!

3. Default Theme Content

Beyond products, your theme itself has many default words and phrases (like "Home" in breadcrumbs, "Quantity" on product pages, "Sold Out" messages). These also need to be translated via the Translate & Adapt app to ensure a fully localized experience.

The Community's Step-by-Step Solution

The good news is, this problem is entirely fixable! The community, especially @Ploqo, provided a fantastic, detailed walkthrough. Here's how you can tackle mixed languages on your product pages:

Step 1: Standardize Your Product Option Names (The Key Fix!)

This is often the trickiest part. The goal is to have a consistent, primary name for your options in the product editor, and then provide translations for them.

1. Go to your Shopify Admin and navigate to Products.
2. Open a product that's showing mixed languages (e.g., Annika's "Sporthäst Start Up Kit").
3. Scroll down to the Variants section. You'll see your options like "Storlek" or "Färg" (or "Size" / "Color").
4. Crucially, change these option names to their consistent primary language version. For Annika, the advice was to change "Storlek" to Size and "Färg" to Color. If an option is named "XS" (like on her "Cover Pants"), rename it to Size.
5. Click Done after renaming each option, then click Save for the product.
6. Repeat this for all products where option names are inconsistent or appearing in the wrong language.

(Example of mixed languages before the fix)

(The same page after applying the fixes)

(Renaming options in Variants)

Step 2: Translate Product Option Names and Content using Translate & Adapt

Now that your option names are consistent, it's time to ensure they're translated correctly.

1. Go to Apps > Translate & Adapt in your Shopify Admin.
2. Select the language you want to fix (e.g., Swedish) and click on Products.
3. Find the product you just edited (e.g., "Sporthäst Start Up Kit").
4. Next to the English option names (like "Size" and "Color"), type in their correct Swedish translations (Storlek and Färg).
5. Click Save.
6. While you're here, check if any product titles or descriptions are still showing in English. If so, fill in the Swedish translations. Remember, the auto-translate feature is safe to use for untranslated content; it won't overwrite your manual translations.

(Option names in the product editor, now standardized to English)

(Accessing Translate & Adapt for Swedish products)

(Entering Swedish translations for option names in Translate & Adapt)

Step 3: Translate Default Theme Content

Don't forget the static text that comes with your theme!

1. In Translate & Adapt, ensure the correct theme is selected (e.g., Symmetry for Annika).
2. Click Default theme content.
3. Go to the General section and translate common phrases. For example, change "Breadcrumbs: Home" to Hem for Swedish.
4. Navigate to the Products section and fill in translations for things like:
• Product: Vendor (By): Från
• Product: Quantity: Antal
• Product: Backorder: är restnoterad och skickas så snart den finns i lager igen.
• Product: Sold Out: Slutsåld
5. Click Save.

(Selecting theme content for translation)

(Translating "Home" to "Hem")

(Translating product-related theme content)

(Always remember to save!)

Important Considerations & Best Practices

• Do NOT Change Your Store's Primary Language: This is a critical warning from @v.marychenka. If you try to switch your store's primary language (e.g., from English to Swedish), it can delete your existing translations. Stick to managing translations via the Markets and Translate & Adapt app.
• Check Market-Specific Content: As @Unlost suggested, always double-check the "adapt" content feature in Translate & Adapt for your specific markets. Sometimes, market-specific overrides can cause unexpected language behavior.
• Link Variant Images: While not directly a language issue, @adwaizer brought up a great UX point: make sure your product variants (especially colors) have linked images. This helps customers visualize their choices.
• Browser Caching: Although it wasn't the main culprit for Annika, it's always a good practice to test your live store in a private or incognito browser window after making changes. Sometimes, local browser caches can show outdated content.

Dealing with internationalization can feel like a maze, but the Shopify platform, especially with tools like Shopify Markets and the Translate & Adapt app, makes it incredibly powerful for reaching customers worldwide. It's fantastic to see the community come together to debug these real-world challenges. By following these steps, you should be able to get your Shopify store's translations singing in harmony, ensuring a smooth and professional experience for all your international customers.