Multi-language PDFs and translation tips
Published on August 2, 2024 3 min readMulti-language patterns
There are so many makers all around the world, and that means that there are loads of makers who speak and read in multiple languages! When we’ve spoken to multi-lingual customers they’ve said that they love being able to see patterns in its different languages before deciding which one to follow. That’s why multi-language patterns are shown in the same PDF, not separate ones.
Submitting multi-language patterns
Your multi-language patterns must be listed within the same PDF document, but if you already have separate documents in the different languages, don’t worry! It’s super easy to merge them together into one handy document. If you’re not sure how, give it a Google or contact our Designers team.
And remember to tag your pattern with the languages it is written in when you are uploading it to the site! That way everyone can easily see what languages your pattern is in.
What about when you’re importing your multi-language patterns from Ravelry? In Ravelry multi-language patterns are displayed as different PDFs, unfortunately only one PDF will be imported so you will need to merge the documents together and add the PDF manually. Don’t worry though, the rest of the information will be imported for you.
Which languages can I write my pattern in?
We accept most working languages! However, in the unlikely event that you cannot see yours in the options available for tagging, please reach out to our Designers team.
Pattern descriptions
You can only enter one pattern description per pattern, which shows on all of the different country store views of our website (UK, USA, Germany, Australia / New Zealand and Rest of the World).
As long as it’s within the 1000 character limit – you can enter shorter descriptions displayed in the multiple languages of your pattern – but it all has to be within the same description box.
Within the description we recommend you mention “This pattern is available in X and Y languages”, as well as mentioning which PDF page numbers the different language versions relate to, so that customers can easily choose to only print out certain sections should they need to. For example “Pages 1-4 in English, Pages 5-8 in French“.
Pricing for multi-language patterns
You can only set one price per pattern in your Designer account, and this price is then converted by currency by the website for its different store views. All of your patterns need to be set in the same currency, and this base currency is what you will be paid in. Customers will see the price converted into the currency of their choice when they are shopping.
Please be aware that currencies do fluctuate over time, so don’t be surprised if you, for example, set your pattern in £ Sterling but browse for it on the German site and see slightly different € Euro prices for it over time.