Languages and markets

Poison is translated into twelve languages and follows Shopify Markets for countries and currencies. This page says what the theme translates for you, what you translate yourself, how right-to-left languages are handled, where the country and language selectors appear, and how prices, dates and units are shown.

Languages the theme comes in

The theme's text is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Dutch, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Arabic and Hebrew. Arabic and Hebrew are written from right to left; the theme mirrors its layout for them.

To sell in one of them, add the language in Settings > Languages and publish it. The theme's own text changes with the language the customer chooses. There is nothing to turn on in the theme.

You can add any other language that Shopify offers. The theme has no translation for it, so its own text shows in English until you translate it: see Translate your content.

What the theme translates for you

• Its own interface text. Everything the theme writes by itself: "Add to cart", "Sold out", the cart, search and filter labels, messages, and the labels that screen readers announce.
• The default text of sections. A heading, text or button you have not edited shows in each customer's language. A button that still has its default label reads "Shop now" in English and "Jetzt shoppen" in German.
• The theme editor. Section names, setting labels and help text follow the language of your Shopify account.

What you translate

• Your store's content: products, collections, pages, blog posts, menus and policies.
• Text you typed in the theme editor. As soon as you edit a heading, a text, a button label or an announcement, that text is yours. It shows as you typed it in every language until you translate it.
• Sample lines that come with a preset. A few lines on the home page, the product page and the contact page are written into the page instead of being defaults, for example the second slide's heading, the headings of the promotion tiles, collapsible rows such as "Ingredients" or "Sizing" and the sample store address. They read the same in every language. Replace them with your own text.

Some text on your store comes from Shopify, not from the theme: the names of the sort options, filter names and values, form error messages, policy titles, payment messages and everything in checkout. Shopify translates these in the languages it supports. If one of them stays in English in a language you sell in, translate it the same way as your own content.

Translate your content

Use Shopify's free Translate & Adapt app, or another translation app.

1. Add the language in Settings > Languages. Leave it unpublished while you work.
2. Open Translate & Adapt and choose the language.
3. Translate your products, collections, pages, blog posts and menus.
4. Translate the theme content, which includes the text you typed into sections.
5. Preview your store in the language (see Check a language before you publish it), then publish the language in Settings > Languages.

The app also lists the theme's own text and the default text of sections. Change any wording there that doesn't suit your brand.

Right-to-left languages

In Arabic and Hebrew the whole layout is mirrored automatically. There is no setting for it.

• The header, the menus and the breadcrumbs read from the right.
• On product cards the quick add button moves to the other bottom corner, and the badge and the color dots to the other side.
• The cart drawer and the other side panels open from the opposite edge.
• Carousels, the slideshow and their arrows run the other way. Arrows that point somewhere are flipped; icons with no direction, such as the plus or the cart, are not.
• Numbers that must not be reversed, such as the photo counter "2 / 6" and discount amounts, keep their order.

Persian, Urdu, Pashto and Yiddish are mirrored in the same way if you add them, but the theme's text is not translated into them.

Fonts for other scripts

Most Latin fonts don't contain Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese or Chinese letters, and italics and tight letter spacing harm those scripts. The theme adjusts by itself:

• Arabic, Hebrew and Japanese each have a font of their own. Choose it in Theme settings > Typography, under Fonts for other scripts: Arabic font, Hebrew font and Japanese font. When a customer browses in that language, the font replaces your heading, body and accent fonts. It loads only for those customers.
• Chinese uses the fonts of the customer's device.
• In these four languages, headings have no tightened letter spacing and more space between lines.
• The accent word of a heading has no italics in these scripts. It is shown in the color scheme's Accent color instead. See the heading accent.

Country and language selectors

The selectors let customers choose where they shop from and which language they read. They appear in two places:

• In the header. On screens 990 px wide and up, a button with a globe shows the current currency code, for example USD. When only the language selector is on, it shows the language code. It opens a dialog titled "Country and language" with one list for each. On smaller screens the button sits at the bottom of the menu and shows the country, its currency and the language.
• In the footer. Two small dropdowns in the bottom row.

Countries are listed with their currency, for example "Canada (CAD $)", and languages by their own name, for example "Français". Choosing from a list changes nothing by itself: the customer confirms with the "Update" button. In the footer that button appears once the choice differs from the current one.

Turn the selectors on

A selector shows only when there is a choice to make.

1. For the country selector, sell to more than one country or region: set up your markets in Settings > Markets.
2. For the language selector, publish more than one language in Settings > Languages.
3. In the theme editor, open the Header section and check Show country/region selector and Show language selector. The Footer section has the same two settings. All four are on when the theme is installed.

With one country and one language, nothing shows, even with the settings on. To keep the selectors in one place only, turn them off in the header or in the footer. See Header and footer.

Currencies and prices

Prices come from Shopify in the currency of the customer's market, with the price rules you set for that market. The theme shows them as it receives them and does no conversion of product prices.

• Currency codes. Show currency codes, in Theme settings > Currency format, adds the code to product prices: "$40.00 USD" instead of "$40.00". Turn it on when your markets use currencies that share a symbol. The cart's total always shows the code, whatever you choose.
• Free shipping goal. When Show free shipping goal is on, you enter the Free shipping threshold once, in your store's currency. For customers in another currency the theme converts it at Shopify's exchange rate, so the amount is not rounded. See Cart.
• Taxes. Under the total in the cart, the theme says whether tax is included or calculated at checkout, depending on whether prices include tax for that customer. The product page says the same under the price when the Price block's Show taxes and shipping note is on.

Dates, units and links

• Dates on blog posts are written the way each language writes them: "October 7, 2026" in English, "7 octobre 2026" in French, "7. Oktober 2026" in German, "2026年10月7日" in Japanese.
• Unit prices. A product with a unit price in Shopify shows it under its price, for example "$2.00/100 ml", on the product page, on product cards and in the cart. The unit is the one you set on the product.
• Links. Links that the theme creates, such as the cart, search and collection links, keep the customer in the country and language they chose.

Check a language before you publish it

1. Preview your store in the language.
2. Open the home page, a collection, a product, the cart and a blog post.
3. Look for text in the wrong language. It is one of three things: text you typed in the editor, a sample line from the preset, or content from your Shopify admin that has no translation yet.
4. Look at buttons and menus. German, for example, has longer words than English: the theme wraps or shortens long labels, but a shorter translation often reads better.
5. In Arabic or Hebrew, open the menu and the cart and check that your own images still make sense when the layout is mirrored. Photos are not flipped.