Translate a PrestaShop store into Japanese

What a PrestaShop XLIFF export actually covers

PrestaShop 1.7 and 8 export interface text as XLIFF files (.xlf), split by domain: catalogue theme, checkout, customer account, error notifications, modules. Each file is uploaded to Manuce separately and comes back in the same form.

These files hold the shop's labels: “Add to cart”, “Proceed to checkout”, “Showing %from%-%to% of %total% item(s)”, messages such as “The product is no longer available in this quantity.” Whatever your source language, these are the strings a Japanese shopper reads on every page.

They do not hold your catalogue. Product names and descriptions, categories and CMS pages live in PrestaShop's database, not in these files, so they need separate handling. That includes the seller disclosure page required by Japan's Act on Specified Commercial Transactions (特定商取引法に基づく表記), which is written from the seller's real details rather than translated.

Japanese: what changes in shop strings

• Politeness. Japanese shoppers expect a polite interface, especially at checkout: “Shipping address” reads better as お届け先住所 than 配送先住所, and “Confirm order” as ご注文を確定する. The honorific prefix ご / お marks what belongs to the customer. Check the tone on the free sample before you order.
• One plural form. Japanese has a single CLDR category (other): “item(s)” gives way to a counter, such as %total%件 or %s点.
• Word order. The verb goes last, so placeholders move: “Showing %from%-%to% of %total% item(s)” becomes something like 全%total%件中 %from%〜%to%件を表示. Named placeholders allow this; with %1$s and %2$s, the index keeps the order right.
• Punctuation. Full-width comma and full stop (、 。) in sentences, but no full stop on a button: カートに追加, not カートに追加。
• Loanwords. Cart or newsletter are written in katakana (カート, メールマガジン); keep the same spelling across all files.
• Names. “First name” and “Last name” become 名 and 姓, but the on-screen field order (family name first in Japan) comes from the country's address format, not the translation file.

What Manuce returns, and what it does not do

You get the same XLIFF file back: indentation, element order, comments, line endings, encoding and BOM preserved. Only the values change. Each translated value is compared with the source: if a placeholder like %s turns into full-width ％s, or a tag goes missing, and the mismatch persists, the source value is kept and the report says so.

Left untouched: keys, empty values, URLs, email addresses, numbers, colours, date formats, identifiers and anything marked as not for translation. Pricing is based on the words in the values, keys and tags excluded; Japanese carries a surcharge (×1.6 coefficient on the per-word rate).

Manuce does not touch PrestaShop's database, does not translate product content outside these files, does not set currency or address formats, and does not provide sworn or certified translation: for terms and conditions meant to hold up in Japan, have a lawyer review them.

Preparing the export and checking the Japanese storefront

1. Install Japanese in PrestaShop first, then export the XLIFF files for that language: one file per domain.
2. Start with checkout and notifications; these are the strings a customer reads while paying.
3. After re-importing, check the theme font: many Latin fonts have no Japanese glyphs, so the browser falls back to a system font in a different style. Declare a Japanese fallback font in the stylesheet.
4. Check line breaks: with no spaces between words, a long label can break mid-compound inside a narrow button.
5. Set currency (yen is shown without decimals) and address format (postcode, prefecture, city) separately.
6. Read the report: strings left in the source language are listed with the reason. Also check markers such as [1]…[/1] in “I agree to the [1]terms of service[/1]”.

In practice

1. Install Japanese in PrestaShop and export the XLIFF files by domain.
2. Upload each .xlf file: the quote is based on the words in the values.
3. Review the free sample, especially the politeness level, then choose a tier.
4. Re-import the translated files and run a full test order in Japanese.
5. Read the report and deal with any strings left in the source language.