Atlas has three separate language lists, and they are not the same size. What Atlas can write a page in, what it can translate a page variation into, and what the Atlas admin interface is available in are three different things.
In this article:
Writing a page
The language Atlas writes new pages in. Set as Store language in the build wizards, or Page language per page.
11 languages:
English (US) | Italian | Chinese |
Spanish | Portuguese | Arabic |
French | Dutch | |
German | Japanese | |
Korean |
The page is written in that language from the start, rather than written in English and translated.
Translating a page variation
A page variation can translate an existing published page into another language, keeping the layout, product, images and offer identical.
20 languages:
English | Dutch | Japanese |
Spanish | Polish | Korean |
French | Swedish | Chinese (Simplified) |
German | Danish | Arabic |
Italian | Norwegian | Hindi |
Portuguese (Brazil) | Finnish | Russian |
Portuguese (Portugal) | Turkish |
ℹ️ This list is longer than the generation list, and it distinguishes Brazilian from European Portuguese where the generation list does not. If you need a language that generation does not offer, build the page in a supported language and then create a language variation.
The Atlas interface
The Atlas admin app itself is translated into 22 locales, which is what you see while working, not what your customers see.
Czech, Danish, German, English, Spanish, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional).
This follows your Shopify admin language and has no effect on the pages you build.
Which to use when
You want | Use |
A new page in a language other than English | Set the language when generating |
An existing page in a second language | A page variation with |
Your whole store in several languages | Shopify's own translation tools |
The Atlas app in your language | Change your Shopify admin language |
Translating pages Atlas already published
A page variation creates a separate page at its own URL in the new language. That is useful for pointing a language-specific ad campaign at it.
It is not the same as making your store multilingual. For that, use Shopify's Markets and the Translate & Adapt app, which serve the right language to the right visitor automatically at the same URL.
💡 Use a language variation for a targeted campaign, and Shopify's translation tools for genuine multilingual selling. They solve different problems, and using a variation as a substitute for proper localisation means visitors never get routed to it.