Learn WordPress 
As you probably know, WooCommerce is a famous WordPress plugin used for e-commerce.
This plugin comes with many features and can be fully customized. Even though WooCommerce has many features but often, users face many issues changing the WooCommerce default language.
The default language of WordPress is English. Thus, if the uploaded content is different from the default language. Then, you have to change the default language.
Sometimes even when you change the default language, the language of WooCommerce remains the same. Most users get confused when this bug happens.
You should consider several important factors when choosing the right WooCommerce plugins for your site when establishing an online store using the WooCommerce platform.
Please refer to our article to learn more about the best free WooCommerce themes.
In this article, we would like to discuss how to change the WooCommerce language.
WooCommerce Uses the Default Language of WordPress
WordPress is a powerful content management system and by default, it’s published in English. But most WordPress users aren’t fluent in English and they prefer to install WordPress in their first language.
Imagine your mother tongue is Spanish and after installing WordPress, every setting is in English. You wouldn’t know where to begin and how to work the WordPress Dashboard.
There are a few simple steps in front of you to change the WordPress language.
Other than changing the main language, WordPress also allows you to have a multilingual website. A website where users can easily change the language to their native language.
How do you change the WordPress language? One of the easy methods is the built-in function accessible from the WordPress Dashboard.
This method is used if you are going to change the entire language of WordPress. For example, change it completely to Spanish.
First, log in to WordPress Dashboard. Then Go to the Settings > General tab. Scroll down until you see Site Language.
From the drop-down menu, select your desired language. Finally, click on Save Changes. That’s everything you have to do.
However, some languages aren’t available on the list. Luckily, there is a solution to this. The solution is to manually add the language you are looking for to WordPress.
First, download the language package from the official WordPress website. Go to this website.
Find the language you are looking for. Click on the 100% in front of it. Then, from the set/sub column click on Export.
Before Exporting the file make sure the format is set to Machine Object Message Catalog. Then, click on Export.
Up to this point, you have just downloaded the language pack you are looking for. Now it’s time to manually add it to WordPress.
Go to your hosting panel. Here, we use cPanel.
Click on File Manager. In the wp-content folder, look for the languages folder. If the folder isn’t there, create a new folder and call it languages. Open the folder and click on Upload. Then, upload the language pack you downloaded.
Go back to WordPress Dashboard and Settings. Now, you can see the language you just added to the Site Language list. To learn about creating a multilingual WordPress you can see our related article.
How to Manually Install WooCommerce Language
To install a language other than the languages in the WooCommerce list, follow the steps below:
1. First, go to http://translate.wordpress.org. Choose the language pack you are looking for. Then, click on its code. You will get redirected to a new page. Select your current WordPress version.
2. The download button will appear. Scroll down until you see the .mo format. Click on Export. Rename the downloaded file to the language code. For example, en_CA. Then, move the .mo file to wp-content/languages in the hosting panel. If the folder doesn’t exist, create it.
3. Go to http://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce-language-lacks. WooCommerce uploads translated packages here. Choose your desired package and extract it.
4. Login to WordPress Dashboard. Go to Settings > General. Scroll down to Site Language and from the drop-down menu, select the language and click on Save Changes.
The steps above changes the default WooCommerce language.
How to Manually Translate WooCommerce
To be successful in international e-commerce, you must be able to locally translate the platform. Most WordPress users are learning how to change the WooCommerce language. There are many common methods, WordPress plugins, PoEdit, and WPML.
There is a .pot file in WooCommerce and all of the English content is in that file. To find this file go to /wooCommerce/i18n/languages.
By installing the Loco Translate plugin you can edit this file:
1. First, download, install and activate the Loco Translate plugin.
2. From the WordPress Dashboard, look for the plugin in the Tools menu.
3. Click on Plugins in Loco Translate and select WooCommerce.
4. To add a new language, click on Add New Language.
5. Select your language from the Choose a language section.
6. From Choose a location, select the file.
7. Then, click on Start Translating.
8. Finally, click on Save.
Keep in mind, whenever there is a new WooCommerce update, you have to update the translated files as well. To update the strings, click on Sync.
The Loco Translate plugin has three options to save the files. One of them is Custom. By using this option, you can manually select your folder.
Use Manual Translation to Improve SEO and Conversion Rate
It’s always best to manually translate the website to match the tune of your audience to improve the conversion rate and SEO. Always analyze the behavior of your audience. Therefore, if you are using an already translated language pack, it’s best to change the call to action and important messages yourself.
Check the language used on the website and optimize them as much as you can. Motivate your users to make a purchase but keep the balance. You can use our guide on how to change the WooCommerce language manually.