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Translate Magento as 1-2-3 ? Localization step by step

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Note: This is a historical reference, not a current security baseline. Magento 1 is end-of-life.

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:
LanguageMagento 1.5.x.x/1.7.0.2 extension key

Afrikaans (South Africa)


community/Locale_Mage_community_af_ZA
Arabic (Egypt) العربيةcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_ar_EG
Arabic (Kuwait) العربيةcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_ar_KW
Arabic (Morocco) العربيةcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_ar_MA
Arabic (Saudi Arabia) العربيةcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_ar_SA
Bulgarian (Bulgaria) Българскиcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_bg_BG
Bengali (Bangladesh) বাংলা community/Locale_Mage_community_bn_BD
Bosnian (Bosnia) Bosanskicommunity/Locale_Mage_community_bs_BA
Catalan (Catalonia) Català community/Locale_Mage_community_ca_ES
Czech (Czech Republic) Češtinacommunity/Locale_Mage_community_cs_CZ
Welsh (United Kingdom) Cymraegcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_cy_GB
Danish (Denmark) Danskcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_da_DK
German (Austria) Deutschcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_de_AT
German (Switzerland) Deutschcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_de_CH
German (Germany) Deutschcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_de_DE
Greek (Greece) Ελληνικάcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_el_GR
English (Great Britain)community/Locale_Mage_community_en_GB
English (Australia)community/Locale_Mage_Community_en_AU
Spanish (Argentina) Españolcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_es_AR
Spanish (Chile) Españolcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_es_CL
Spanish (Colombia) Españolcommunity/Locale_Mage_community_es_CO
Spanish (Spain) Españolcommunity/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 “
Installing Magento locale in Magento Connect Manager
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:
Enabiling Magento inline translation feature in Magento backend
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
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:
Magento inline translation
Hover some text to translate and click on book icon
inline-translate-magento-translation-popup
It 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
Translating Gender Attribute in Magento Backend
   

Comments

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  1. christianbenitez
    Very good article, thx a lot mate