Translation: Multiple websites, multiple languages

Question

I'm building a store for a client, and this is the first time I'm working with multiple websites AND multiple languages.

I'm a bit uncertain how to handle the translation aspect. My store structure is similiar to:

WEBSITE 1
   - English
   - German

Website 2
   - English
   - German

Of course with stores set up for each website as well, but in order to keep it simple, this is the basics.

Now, each website has set the correct locale, so they're using the same basic translation for the UI and common terms.

My questions are:

Firstly, where does Magento save product translations and the like? We don't want to have to translate products separately for english and german, for each website, as there will be quite a few down the line.

Secondly, do I need to do anything other than set locale, to make sure that product texts in german are translated in both Website 1->German and Website 2->German? I can copy values when creating the product, but what happens when the product is edited? Are they also copied, dynamically?

This is a bit basic, but I'd like to be reasonably certain of the mechanics before we start adding hundreds of products to dozens of stores. :)

Regards

Answer 1

Firstly, where does Magento save product translations and the like? We don't want to have to translate products separately for english and german, for each website, as there will be quite a few down the line.

Unfortunately those are saved by store view and not associated to a language at all. The best advice here is, to not manage your products in Magento but use an external product management software (PIM) that can export to Magento. Most shops with a significant amount of products import the product data from another system because managing them in Magento is not really a pleasure.

Secondly, do I need to do anything other than set locale, to make sure that product texts in german are translated in both Website 1->German and Website 2->German? I can copy values when creating the product, but what happens when the product is edited? Are they also copied, dynamically?

See above. Product attributes are not translated, you can only define different values for each store view.

Answer 2

Firstly, where does Magento save product translations and the like? We don't want to have to translate products separately for english and german, for each website, as there will be quite a few down the line.

While Magento keeps product translations in separate stores, each store representing a language, most users would find it much easier and simpler to manage translations in a PIM solution, such as Bluestone PIM (we have easy-to-use translation UI for that).

Our extension also will soon support multiple stores sync for languages, and will sync each language into separate stores in Magento.

Secondly, do I need to do anything other than set locale, to make sure that product texts in german are translated in both Website 1->German and Website 2->German? I can copy values when creating the product, but what happens when the product is edited? Are they also copied, dynamically?

Setting the fallback language would help here, which means that if the translation is missing in some value, the value will be fetched from the set fallback language. You won't need to copy value, you can just use the translation you prefer. I assume you would need to implement PIM for such functionality. In Bluestone PIM, when you finish updating the data, it is enough just to select 'Sync to Magento'.