Translate a PrestaShop store into Italian

What PrestaShop XLIFF files actually contain

PrestaShop 1.7 and 8 export interface text as .xlf files grouped by domain: the shop theme (catalogue, basket, checkout), notifications, modules and the back office. Each file is uploaded separately, so you can start with what Italian shoppers see, such as domains like Shop.Theme.Checkout or Shop.Theme.Catalog, and leave the back office in your team's own language.

Be clear about what these files do not hold: product descriptions, categories and CMS pages (including your terms of sale) live in the database and are not part of the XLIFF export. A fully Italian store needs both pieces of work; this page covers the interface translation files.

Italian specifics in an online shop

• Register. Translations use the formal Lei: "Inserisca il Suo indirizzo email". Many Italian shops address customers informally ("Inserisci il tuo indirizzo"); if that is your brand voice, plan a review so the basket and the emails do not switch between the two.
• Accents. Italian separates è (is) from e (and), and writes perché, più, città; the capital is È, not E'. Your file encoding is kept as it is, so simply check that your theme renders these characters.
• Plurals. Italian uses the one, many and other categories. PrestaShop often handles singular and plural as two separate strings ("There is 1 product." and "There are %d products."), each translated on its own: "C'è 1 prodotto." and "Ci sono %d prodotti."
• Length. Coming from English, expect growth: "Add to cart" becomes "Aggiungi al carrello", "Checkout" often "Procedi con l'ordine". Check narrow theme buttons.
• Punctuation. No space before :, ? or !; apostrophes are frequent (dell'ordine, l'indirizzo).

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

You get the same .xlf file in the same format: indentation, entry order, quotation marks, comments, line endings, encoding and BOM are preserved; only the values change. Each translated value is compared with the source: if "Delivery within %days% days" loses its %days% placeholder or a tag, the mismatch is retried; if it persists, the source value is kept and the report says so.

Left untranslated: keys, empty values, URLs, email addresses, numbers, colours, date formats, identifiers and anything marked as non-translatable. Pricing is based on the words in the values, excluding keys and tags; Italian is charged at the base rate (×1 coefficient).

Manuce does not translate your database (products, categories, CMS pages) and does not provide sworn or certified translation: if your Italian terms of sale need legal sign-off, have them reviewed by a professional versed in Italian law.

Preparing the export and checking after import

1. Install Italian in PrestaShop first, so the export targets the it-IT locale.
2. Export the domains you need, one file per domain, starting with the theme and customer emails.
3. Identify strings from third-party modules: they sit in their own domains.
4. Once translated, read the report: any string left in the source language comes with a reason.
5. Import the files, then place a test order: product page, basket, address, payment, confirmation email.

During that test, watch prices and dates in particular: they are not translated, so it is PrestaShop's Italian locale that must display 29,90 € and 15/03/2025 in the right order.

Which level suits an Italian storefront

For a shop facing real Italian customers, Professional, translated by the domain's specialist engine, is the sensible choice; Premium adds cross-review, worthwhile for checkout and transactional emails. Essential is enough to understand what a module contains before enabling it. A free sample of one paragraph from your file lets you judge the tone, including the Lei register, before paying.

In practice

1. Install Italian in PrestaShop and export the it-IT XLIFF files, domain by domain.
2. Upload each .xlf file to Manuce and review the quote based on the words in the values.
3. Check the free sample, choose a level and pay.
4. Download the translated files and the report, then import them into PrestaShop.
5. Run a full test order in Italian.