How to change microcopy language

If you want the template to use a language that is not supported by default, a new language-specific microcopy file needs to be added and the messages in it need to be translated. This article walks you through the steps required to to that.

Creating a new microcopy file

1. Copy the default src/translations/en.json English microcopy file into some other file, for example it.json for Italian.

2. Change the messages in the new microcopy file to the desired language.

Even if you use hosted microcopy to manage your marketplace texts, it is still important to have a built-in language-specific microcopy file in the template as well, so that the application can show meaningful messages for any keys missing from the Flex Console microcopy asset.

Changing the microcopy used in the template

Once you have the microcopy file in place:

1. In config/configDefault.js, change the locale variable value to match the new locale (the name of the new microcopy file, without the extension), for example:

localization: {
 locale: 'it',
 ...
}

2. If you are using a non-english locale with moment library, you should import time specific formatting rules for that locale:

import 'moment/locale/it';

   import 'moment/locale/it';
   const hardCodedLocale = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'test' ? 'en' : 'it';

4. Point messagesInLocale to correct .json file, for example:

import messagesInLocale from './translations/it.json';

It is also recommended to change en.json translations. That way, accidentally deleted keys in dynamic hosted microcopy (in Console) won't cause the default English translations to be rendered in your custom client app.

Changing the microcopy used in tests

Also, in case you will translate the application and develop it forward it is wise to change the microcopy file that the tests use. Normally tests are language agnostic as they use microcopy keys as values. However, when adding new microcopy you can end up with missing microcopy keys in tests. To change the microcopy file used in tests change the messages variable in src/util/test-helpers.js to match your language in use, for example:

import messages from '../translations/it.json';

Developing the Sharetribe Web Template into a multilanguage marketplace

If you intend to modify the template to handle multiple languages, it is good to note that the template is by default configured to run in single language mode, so a multilanguage marketplace requires custom development. For multiple languages, you basically have two approaches for that custom development.

The first option is to create two versions of the client app, one for Language 1 and one for Language 2. They can both point to the same Marketplace API i.e. share the same listings, users, transaction processes etc. If you have a very location-specific marketplace with different locations mainly in different languages, this might be a good approach, because you can then target your UI, branding and localization more closely to the target area.

Another option is to customize a single client app to provide multiple languages. For instance, you could import several language files in src/app.js and select which one you are going to use by modifying src/routeConfiguration.js, so that all the paths include a ”locale” variable. E.g. /about could be changed to /:locale/about to capture paths like /fr/about. In this case, it is useful to save the user's language preference to the extended data.

Read more about having a multilanguage marketplace on top of Flex.