Translate a PrestaShop store into Simplified Chinese
Manuce translates the XLIFF files exported by PrestaShop 1.7 and 8 into Simplified Chinese, one domain at a time, and returns each file in its original format, ready to import. Placeholders and tags are checked string by string; product content in the database, theme fonts and currency settings remain on your side.
What it costs
For the language files of a PrestaShop store totalling about 8,000 words, into Chinese (Simplified):
To understand, internal use.
Ready to send, by the technical specialist.
Cross-checked. For documents that commit you.
Price for one language, original layout included. VAT not applicable — article 293 B of the French General Tax Code (CGI). The exact quote, based on your file's word count, is shown before you pay.
What the PrestaShop export contains, and what Manuce handles
PrestaShop 1.7 and 8 export interface translations as XLIFF files (.xlf), one per domain: theme text, error messages, emails, modules, back office. Each file is uploaded separately to Manuce. You pick the ones your Chinese customers will see and can leave out back-office domains that only your staff use.
Third-party modules often have their own domains. Do not forget payment and shipping modules: their messages appear at the most sensitive point of checkout, and a line left in the source language there makes buyers hesitate.
One thing often missed: product pages, categories and CMS pages are not in these files. They live in the database and are exported another way. A store translated through its XLIFF files alone will show Chinese buttons around product descriptions still in English, French or whatever your source language is. Plan that work separately.
Simplified Chinese in a shop: what changes
- No plurals. CLDR has a single category, other, for Chinese. "%d product" and "%d products" become the same string, with a measure word:
%d 件商品. If your theme has two strings, both receive the same form, which is correct. - Full-width punctuation. Comma "，", full stop "。", colon "：". The string
Total: %sbecomes总计：%s, with no space around the colon. - Length. "Add to cart" (11 characters) becomes "加入购物车" (5 characters), yet each character is roughly as wide as two Latin letters, so the space taken on screen barely changes. What changes most is line breaking: there are no spaces between words and text can wrap almost anywhere.
- Register. Shops aimed at mainland China commonly address customers with the polite 您 in account and order messages, while keeping buttons short: 结算 for "Checkout".
- Simplified, not Traditional. This page covers mainland China and Singapore. For Taiwan or Hong Kong, Traditional Chinese is a separate language at Manuce, ordered on its own.
What Manuce returns, and what it does not do
You get back the same .xlf file: indentation, unit order, quotation marks, comments, line endings, encoding and BOM preserved. Only the values change; the file is ready to go back into PrestaShop.
Every translated value is compared with the source. If %s, %1$s or a tag such as <strong> is missing or added, and the mismatch persists, the source value is kept and the report flags it. A string left untranslated is better than an order confirmation that renders broken.
Not translated: keys, empty values, URLs, email addresses, numbers, colours, date formats, identifiers and anything marked as non-translatable. The report lists the strings translated and those left as they were, with the reason for each.
Manuce does not touch the database, the theme fonts, or currency and address settings. It does not produce sworn or certified translations either: if your terms and conditions must be certified by a sworn translator, you will need another route. Pricing is based on the words in the values, keys and tags excluded, with the ×1.6 coefficient that applies to Chinese.
Preparing the export and checking after import
- Fonts. Many themes load a Latin-only web font. It has no Chinese characters, so the browser falls back to a system font, sometimes with uneven rendering or even empty boxes. Make sure the theme provides a font covering hanzi or a suitable fallback stack.
- Complete source. Export from a fully filled-in source language: a value that is empty in the source stays empty in the translation.
- Brand names. For a product or range name that must stay in Latin letters, check the free sample, then the delivered translation.
- Checkout path. After import, walk through cart, address, shipping, payment and the confirmation email. Strings with placeholders are where word order shifts most:
Delivered on %sbecomes%s送达, with the date moving to the front. - Settings outside the files. Currency (yuan, ¥), address format and date format are configured in PrestaShop, not in the XLIFF files.
In practice
- Export from PrestaShop the XLIFF files for every customer-facing domain, including payment and shipping modules.
- Upload each .xlf file, choose Simplified Chinese and a level, then read the free sample.
- Accept the quote, pay, and download the translated file and its report from your account.
- Import the file back into PrestaShop and browse the store in Chinese, checkout included.
Frequently asked questions
Are product descriptions translated with these files?
No. PrestaShop's XLIFF files hold interface, theme, module and email text. Product descriptions, categories and CMS pages sit in the database and need to be exported and translated separately.
How are plurals handled in Chinese?
Chinese has a single form (CLDR category other). "1 product" and "3 products" are written the same way, with a measure word such as 件. If your file contains two strings, both receive the same translation.
My theme shows empty boxes instead of Chinese characters. Is the translation at fault?
No, it is the font. A Latin-only font contains no hanzi. The theme needs to load a font that covers Chinese or define a fallback; Manuce does not modify theme files.
Can I use this translation for Taiwan or Hong Kong?
No, those markets read Traditional Chinese, which is a separate language at Manuce. Order it alongside; the multi-language discount applies from two languages in the same order.
What happens if a placeholder such as %s is lost in translation?
Each value is compared with the source. If a placeholder or tag mismatch persists, the source value is kept and the report says so. You know exactly which strings to revisit.
The specialist in charge
This subject goes to Dédale, the technical specialist. See how it works.
The same file, into another language
Into Chinese (Simplified), other files
See also
Try it on your own file, free
A sample of your file translated at the level you choose, before any payment. You judge, then you decide.