TLDR;
When using Donation Platform for WooCommerce for an international audience, you should translate both the plugin and WooCommerce, configure currencies and payment gateways, and make sure your translations preserve technical placeholders like %s and %d.
If you plan to show your website in a different language than English there are a few important things to consider. These include language, currency, and payment methods. While this takes a bit more setup, it ensures a much better experience for your donors and increases trust and conversion rates.
1. Donation Platform for WooCommerce
Donation Platform for WooCommerce is fully prepared for internationalization (i18n) and localization (l10n). All built-in texts can be translated using WordPress’ standard translation system.
Some labels (such as the “Your Contribution” title, “Choose an amount” title, or the anonymous/public donation checkbox text) can also be customized directly in the plugin settings. Please note that when you change these values, your custom text will be shown instead of the translated version.
For in-browser editing of translation files, we recommend the free plugin Loco Translate:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/loco-translate/
With Loco Translate you can:
- Create new translations for your language
- Edit existing translations
- Store them safely inside WordPress so they are not overwritten by updates
Share your translations
If you create or improve a translation, please consider sharing it with the community.
You can export your translation files from Loco Translate and upload them to WordPress Translate:
https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/wc-donation-platform
This helps other site owners use Donation Platform for WooCommerce in their own language.
When contributing translations, please note that we, as the authors of Donation Platform for WooCommerce, cannot approve or publish them. This process is handled by the official WordPress Translation Editors (PTEs) for each language.
To get started with translating the plugin correctly, please refer to the WordPress Polyglots handbook:
https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/translating/how-to-translate/
2. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is used by millions of stores worldwide and already provides excellent support for international stores. This includes:
- Dozens of languages
- Localized checkout flows
- Multiple currencies
- Region-specific tax and formatting rules
In most cases, WooCommerce can be easily adapted to your country or region with existing translations and extensions. A quick Google search for “WooCommerce [your country] setup” will usually point you in the right direction.
3. How to translate text correctly
When translating Donation Platform for WooCommerce (or WooCommerce), it’s important to preserve technical placeholders used by WordPress and PHP.
Many plugin strings use sprintf() to insert dynamic values like amounts, donation titles, or donor names. These placeholders must not be removed or changed in your translation.
Common placeholders
| Placeholder | Meaning |
|---|---|
%s | A string (e.g. donation name, currency symbol) |
%d | An integer (e.g. number of donations) |
%f | A decimal number (e.g. amount) |
%1$s, %2$s | Numbered placeholders (used when word order differs between languages) |
Example
Original string:
Thank you for your donation of %s!Correct German translation:
Vielen Dank für deine Spende in Höhe von %s!❌ Incorrect:
Vielen Dank für deine Spende!This removes %s and will cause errors or missing values.
Numbered placeholders
Sometimes translations need to change the word order. In those cases, numbered placeholders are used.
Example:
%1$s donated %2$s to %3$s
Might become:
%1$s hat %3$s %2$s gespendet
This allows translators to reorder the sentence without breaking how the values are inserted.
4. Best practices for translators
When translating Donation Platform for WooCommerce:
- Never remove or alter placeholders (
%s,%d,%1$s, etc.) - Keep HTML tags if they appear in the original string
- Do not translate URLs or shortcodes
- Test the frontend after translating to make sure all texts display correctly
How to Translate Donation Platform for WooCommerce with Loco Translate
Please remember that some strings can be changed via the plugin’s settings page.