If your buyers don't all read English, the language of your site decides how many of them stay. This guide covers what a multilingual auction or raffle site needs: the interface in each language, right-to-left layout for Arabic and Urdu, your own listings translated, and prices and coins that make sense everywhere. It uses BidKing, RaffKing and PrizeX as the example, since all three share the same language system.
What's translated out of the box
The storefront, the admin panel and each product's own pages ship with language files for 18 languages:
- English, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Simplified), Filipino, French, German, Greek and Hungarian;
- Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese.
The auction, lottery, mystery box, shop and games plugins each carry their own files in all 18, so a product's buttons, messages and emails switch language with the rest of the site.
How a visitor's language is picked
- The language they chose on your site.
- For a signed-in customer, the language saved on their account.
- A language remembered from an earlier visit.
- Otherwise, English. If the visitor's country matches another language, a banner in that language offers to switch. Nothing changes unless they choose it.
Visitors can change language at any time from the language switcher.
Right-to-left layout
Arabic and Urdu read from right to left. When a visitor picks either one, the page is served with right-to-left direction, so the layout mirrors: menus, text and icons run from the right. You don't need a separate theme or a second site for them.
Do check your own content in right-to-left mode before you launch, though. Banner images with English text baked in, or product photos with arrows pointing "forward", read oddly when mirrored.
Your own content in each language
Language files cover the interface. Your listings, prize descriptions and pages are your content, and they need translating too. The admin's Translations screen handles this:
- Choose the languages to translate into, and which content to include. "Everything" also covers content from plugins you switch on later.
- New and changed text is machine-translated in the background, by a job that runs every minute from your server's cron.
- English shows until a text is translated. A visitor never sees a blank.
- You can edit any translation by hand. Your edit is kept, and you can go back to the machine translation if you change your mind.
- If you change the English, the translation is redone the next time the text is shown.
The content it covers includes:
- items, which hold both auction lots and shop products;
- categories, banners, pages and winners;
- lotteries and their prizes, mystery boxes and their prizes, and games, when those plugins are installed.
Auto translation needs an activated licence. Text is sent with your licence key to the WowCodes translation service. If the licence isn't activated yet, the screen says so and nothing is sent.
Machine translation is a good first pass, not a final one. For your most important pages, such as your terms, the homepage and high-value lots, have a native speaker review the result, and correct it in the Translations screen.
Currency and coin naming
- Currency: the store has one currency, set under Settings › Regional with its symbol. Choose the one most of your buyers pay in. Our India and Brazil guides cover local pricing in more depth.
- Coin naming: the wallet's unit is called "Coin" by default, and each language file has its own word for it. You can rename the unit under Settings › Rewards, for example to "Credit" or "Point". A name you set there replaces the word in every language. On a multilingual site, either leave it empty so each language uses its own translation, or pick a name that reads well in all of your languages.
Common questions
Which languages does BidKing support?
The storefront and admin ship in 18 languages: English, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Simplified), Filipino, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese.
Does it support right-to-left languages?
Yes. Arabic and Urdu pages are served right to left, so the layout mirrors automatically.
How do I translate my own listings?
Turn on auto translations in the admin's Translations screen and pick your languages. New and changed content is machine-translated in the background, you can edit any translation by hand, and English shows until a translation is ready. It needs an activated licence.
Can each language show prices in its own currency?
No. The store has one currency, set in Settings › Regional. Pick the currency most of your buyers pay in.