Translate Magento as 1-2-3 ☆ Localization step by step
When it comes to localization routines, the most feasible thing is to not waste time on locating strings to translate to in numerous localization files. It can be easily achieved with Magento In-line translation feature.
Frankly speaking, there are just two steps for 100% Magento language translation or localization:
Install Magento localization package (for up to 80-99% translation)
Translate all strings that require manual correction with the help of in-line language translation feature
Installing Magento localization package
Select language pack for your country. Search for the country, language, locale name using search box (it is right below this line) to filter results and copy corresponding extension key:
Language
Magento 1.5.x.x/1.7.0.2 extension key
Afrikaans (South Africa)
community/Locale_Mage_community_af_ZA
Arabic (Egypt) العربية
community/Locale_Mage_community_ar_EG
Arabic (Kuwait) العربية
community/Locale_Mage_community_ar_KW
Arabic (Morocco) العربية
community/Locale_Mage_community_ar_MA
Arabic (Saudi Arabia) العربية
community/Locale_Mage_community_ar_SA
Bulgarian (Bulgaria) Български
community/Locale_Mage_community_bg_BG
Bengali (Bangladesh) বাংলা
community/Locale_Mage_community_bn_BD
Bosnian (Bosnia) Bosanski
community/Locale_Mage_community_bs_BA
Catalan (Catalonia) Català
community/Locale_Mage_community_ca_ES
Czech (Czech Republic) Čeština
community/Locale_Mage_community_cs_CZ
Welsh (United Kingdom) Cymraeg
community/Locale_Mage_community_cy_GB
Danish (Denmark) Dansk
community/Locale_Mage_community_da_DK
German (Austria) Deutsch
community/Locale_Mage_community_de_AT
German (Switzerland) Deutsch
community/Locale_Mage_community_de_CH
German (Germany) Deutsch
community/Locale_Mage_community_de_DE
Greek (Greece) Ελληνικά
community/Locale_Mage_community_el_GR
English (Great Britain)
community/Locale_Mage_community_en_GB
English (Australia)
community/Locale_Mage_Community_en_AU
Spanish (Argentina) Español
community/Locale_Mage_community_es_AR
Spanish (Chile) Español
community/Locale_Mage_community_es_CL
Spanish (Colombia) Español
community/Locale_Mage_community_es_CO
Spanish (Spain) Español
community/Locale_Mage_community_es_ES
Spanish (Mexico) Español
community/Locale_Mage_community_es_MX
Persian (Iran) فارسی
community/Locale_Mage_community_fa_IR
Filipino (Philippines) Filipino
community/Locale_Mage_community_fil_PH
Finnish (Finland) Suomi
community/Locale_Mage_community_fi_FI
French (Canada) Français
community/Locale_Mage_community_fr_CA
French (France) Français
community/Locale_Mage_community_fr_FR
Hebrew (Israel) עברית
community/Locale_Mage_community_he_IL
Croatian (Croatia) Hrvatski
community/Locale_Mage_community_hr_HR
Hungarian (Hungary) Magyar
community/Locale_Mage_community_hu_HU
Indonesian (Indonesia) Bahasa Indonesia
community/Locale_Mage_community_id_ID
Italian (Switzerland) Italiano
community/Locale_Mage_community_it_CH
Italian (Italy) Italiano
community/Locale_Mage_community_it_IT
Japanese (Japan) 日本語
community/Locale_Mage_community_ja_JP
Lithuanian (Lithuania) Lietuvių kalba
community/Locale_Mage_community_lt_LT
Latvian (Latvia) Latviešu valoda
community/Locale_Mage_community_lv_LV
Macedonian (Macedonia) Македонски јазик
community/Locale_Mage_community_mk_MK
Mongolian (Mongolia) Монгол хэл
community/Locale_Mage_community_mn_MN
Malaysian (Malaysia) Bahasa Melayu
community/Locale_Mage_community_ms_MY
Norwegian Bokmal (Norway) Bokmål
community/Locale_Mage_community_nb_NO
Dutch (Netherlands) Nederlands
community/Locale_Mage_community_nl_NL
Norwegian Nynorsk (Norway) Nynorsk
community/Locale_Mage_community_nn_NO
Polish (Poland) Polszczyzna
community/Locale_Mage_community_pl_PL
Portuguese (Brazil) Português
community/Locale_Mage_community_pt_BR
Portuguese (Portugal) Português
community/Locale_Mage_community_pt_PT
Romanian (Romania) Română
community/Locale_Mage_community_ro_RO
Russian (Russia) Русский
community/Locale_Mage_community_ru_RU
Slovak (Slovakia) Slovenčina
community/Locale_Mage_community_sk_SK
Slovenian (Slovenia) Slovenščina
community/Locale_Mage_community_sl_SI
Albanian (Albania) Shqip
community/Locale_Mage_community_sq_AL
Serbian (Serbia) Српски
community/Locale_Mage_community_sr_RS
Swedish
community/Locale_Mage_community_sv_SE
Thai (Thailand) ภาษาไทย
community/Locale_Mage_community_th_TH
Turkish (Turkey) Türkçe
community/Locale_Mage_community_tr_TR
Ukrainian (Ukraine) Українська мова
community/Locale_Mage_community_uk_UA
Vietnamese (Vietnam) Tiếng Việt
community/Locale_Mage_community_vi_VN
Install the language pack as a usual Magento module by navigating to System > Magento Connect > Magento Connect Manager, logging in there with your usual Magento admin user and pasting the key into “
Pasting extension key in Magento Connect Manager
Make sure to un-tick “Put store on the maintenance mode” option to not bring down your store, as locale installation is a simple task and can not bring PHP code changes or any database updates that require any maintenance.
After clicking on Install button it will proceed to downloading and unpacking all locale files of selected locale package. You can return back into Magento backend to enable Inline translation. For detailed information on extension installation you can refer to Installing and Managing Magento Connect Extensions training guide.
Enabling Magento Translate Inline feature
To enable Magento Inline translation feature navigate to System > Configuration > Advanced > Developer > Translate Inline and switch Enabled for Frontend option to Yes:Enabling Magento inline translation feature in Magento backend
Make sure to flush cache and disable it during translation at System > Cache Management (just to not waste time on wondering why nothing changed):
Disabling Magento cache for inline translation
Done. Now we can translate Magento inline
Just hover some string to translate to and click on book icon:
Hover some text to translate and click on book iconIt will bring translation pop-up where you can enter an alternate translation.
Translate product attributes in Magento
All products have an attributes assigned. You can localize attributes names at Catalog > Attributes > Manage Attributes, open the attribute to be localized and switch to Manage Label / Options tab and translate attribute titles as needed.
Translating Gender Attribute in Magento Backend