Buildtan Technologies

GuideLast updated September 8, 2026

How to translate a Shopify age gate

If you sell in more than one language, translate your age gate along with the rest of your storefront. This guide explains what to translate, what Hatchway translates for you, and what remains in English.

How translation works

You won’t find a language setting inside Hatchway. There isn’t one, and that is deliberate. Hatchway uses Shopify’s translation system.

Translation depends on who provides the text:

  • Text you enter. Translate headlines, messages, buttons, and terms with Shopify’s free Translate & Adapt app.
  • Fields you leave blank. Hatchway provides defaults in nine languages.
  • Interface text. Hatchway provides error messages, badges, and validation notices in the same nine languages. You can’t edit these strings.

Translation is available on every Hatchway plan.

Use a supported default language

Hatchway provides translated defaults in English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Danish. If you leave a field blank, shoppers see its default in their storefront language.

Hatchway’s default translations are machine-translated. If exact wording matters in your market, enter your own copy and translate it with Translate & Adapt.

This guide is not legal advice. A translation does not confirm that your gate complies with local law.

Add the language in Shopify

Nothing else on this page works until the language exists on your store. In your Shopify admin:

  1. Go to Settings, then Languages.
  2. Choose Add language, then select a language.
  3. Assign it to your domain when Shopify asks.
Shopify Settings, Languages, showing English as default plus Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), French and German all marked Published, with the Add language button above the list.
Shopify adds a language as unpublished. Keep it unpublished while you add its translations.

If you use Shopify Markets, enable the language in each market where you want to offer it.

Hatchway does not limit your languages. Shopify supports up to 20 published languages per store.

Choose who provides each field

Translation works one field at a time. If you enter text in the theme editor, translate that field yourself. If you leave it blank and Hatchway supports the storefront language, Hatchway provides the translation.

Blank fields do not appear in Translate & Adapt. Shopify has no source text to show for them.

The Hatchway theme editor with custom headline and message text, blank button fields, and a preview that replaces the age placeholder with 18.
The headline and message need translations. The blank buttons use Hatchway’s defaults. The preview replaces { age } with 18.

To show the product’s age threshold, enter { age } in any copy field. For example, You must be { age } or older shows 18 or 21 based on the product.

Use single braces. If every product uses one threshold, you can enter the number instead.

Leave a field blank to use our translation

Nine fields support translated defaults. Under Copy, they include the headline, message, buttons, date-of-birth prompt, and date-of-birth button. Under Terms mode, they include the checkbox label, decline headline, and decline message.

The Hatchway Age Gate Copy section with empty headline, message, and confirm button fields. Each field shows its default text underneath.
Blank fields show their defaults as help text.

Keep a field empty to use its translated default. The help text shows the default without adding a value to the field.

Translate your own words in Translate & Adapt

To translate the fields you filled, open Shopify’s free Translate & Adapt app. Select the language, then go to Theme > App embeds.

Translate and Adapt showing English headline and message references beside empty French translation fields.
Only fields with custom text appear in Translate & Adapt.

When you translate a field:

  • Keep { age } unchanged. Do not remove the braces or translate the word age.
  • Preserve the terms formatting. The rich text field supports bold text, links, and lists.
  • Use one terms URL for every language. Shopify does not treat URL fields as translatable.

If a custom field has no translation when you publish the language, Shopify shows it in your store’s primary language.

After you finish the translations, return to Settings > Languages. From the ... menu for the language, choose Publish.

Check the translation

Before you publish the language, use Preview Gate in the Hatchway admin to check the translation.

After you publish it, use your storefront’s language selector and open a gated product.

If the gate does not appear, confirm that the app embed is active and the product has the correct tag.

The age gate on a French storefront. The headline and message are in English while both buttons read J'ai 21 ans ou plus and J'ai moins de 21 ans in French.
The untranslated custom text remains in English. The blank buttons use Hatchway’s French defaults.

Know what remains in English

Hatchway interface text. The badge, error messages, date-of-birth notice, terms link, and reference code use a supported default language or English.

The same age gate on a Chinese storefront, identical to the French one except that both buttons now read I am 21 or older and I am under 21 in English.
On a Chinese storefront, Hatchway’s default buttons remain in English because Chinese is not a supported default language.

To translate the buttons into Chinese, enter your own English button labels in the theme editor. Then translate those fields with Translate & Adapt.

Hatchway settings. The theme editor panel follows your store’s active language when Hatchway supports it. The Hatchway admin app remains in English.

Order records. Age confirmations, such as 21+ confirmed 2026-09-08, remain in English so records use one format.

Check right-to-left layouts

Hatchway follows your theme’s text direction. Shopify sets the page language, but your theme must set the direction.

Hatchway does not provide default Arabic or Hebrew copy. Enter your own source text, translate it, then test the gate with your theme.

Where Hatchway fits

Hatchway Age Gate includes nine default languages and supports custom text in any language that Shopify supports. Translation is available on every plan.

Hatchway is a self-declaration gate. It does not verify identity or store shopper personal data.