Storefront Language Experience

Language Switcher

When 2 or more languages are active, a language dropdown appears automatically in the store navigation bar showing each language name — for example English, العربية, Français.

Customers click the dropdown, select a language, and the page reloads with all content in that language.

Locale Session Flow

1. Customer selects a language from the switcher.
2. Their locale is stored in the session.
3. On every page load the system checks the current locale.
4. For a non-default locale, translations load from the database and replace product names, descriptions, category names, and more.
5. For the default locale, translations are not loaded at all — zero performance impact.

Missing-Translation Fallback

If a translation is missing for a field, the default language value shows as fallback — customers never see a blank field.

Caching and Performance

Translations are cached for 10 minutes per locale. The first visitor in a new locale triggers a database query; subsequent visitors use the cache.

Troubleshooting

Translations not showing on the storefront? Ask your provider to run php artisan view:clear, then re-open the item and confirm the language tab has saved content.

Switcher not showing? You need at least 2 active languages in Settings → Languages, and the plugin must be enabled.