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Languages & Translations

Updated

PNLCS ships in 30 languages. English, Turkish, Polish, Chinese and German are complete; the others cover most of the interface and fall back to English where a text is missing.

Switch languages on

Setup → Languages, Languages tab:

  • Progress shows how much of each language is translated.
  • Switch a language on to offer it to customers and staff.

Settings tab:

  • Default Language: the language new visitors and new customers get. The list offers every language that is switched on, and every language that is fully translated; choosing one that is off switches it on.
  • Show the language in the address: the default language keeps its addresses, and every other active language is served under its code (for example /en/client/store), so search engines can index each language.

Change a translation

Press Translate next to a language. The editor shows every text with its English source; search by key or wording, filter by group, and edit in place. Your changes are stored in the database and take priority over the files that ship with PNLCS, so they survive updates.

If a change does not show at once, press Clear Cache on the Languages page.

Translate with AI

  1. Setup → Languages: the AI Translation Settings card at the top of the page takes an OpenAI API Key and the OpenAI Model (gpt-4o-mini, the default, gpt-4o, gpt-4.1-mini, gpt-4.1, gpt-5-mini or gpt-5). Save them once. The key is never shown again; leave the field empty to keep it.
  2. Press Translate next to a language. The Translate with AI panel at the top of the editor offers two choices, each with the number of texts it covers:
    • Only missing texts: fills what the language has no text for. Nothing that is already there is touched.
    • Everything again from English: translates the whole language anew and replaces the current texts. Use it for a language whose texts you cannot trust.
  3. Press Start. Texts go to OpenAI in batches of 30 and are saved as each batch comes back; the progress bar moves and every translated line appears in the panel as it arrives. Stop halts after the current batch, and Continue carries on from where it stopped, even after the page was closed.

A translation that drops or renames a placeholder (:name, :amount) is not saved; the line shows as skipped and the text keeps what it had.

In the editor, a robot icon marks a text Translated with AI, and a tick marks one Saved in the editor by hand. A text that should read the same as in English (a brand name, a code) can be ticked Same as English under its box: it then counts as translated, and an equals sign marks it.

Read the result before you rely on it: machine translation gets tone and context wrong. Correct any line in the editor and press Save Changes.

Save stores only what you changed

The editor saves a line only when it differs from the text that ships with PNLCS. Setting a line back to the shipped text removes your override, so later improvements to the language reach you again.

Updates also clean up overrides that are only copies: a saved text that is exactly what the language file now says, or one the project has since replaced in the file, is removed. Texts that are your own wording stay.

Export and import

In a language's editor, Export JSON downloads every text English has, with the language's own text, or empty where it has none yet. Export missing downloads only the texts not yet translated. Import loads a JSON file in the same shape; keys PNLCS does not have are left out, and the message names them. Use it to have a translator work offline.

Contribute a translation

Sending your translation to the project puts it in every PNLCS install. See Translations.