By default, the WooCommerce Product CSV Import Suite will always import your products in the default language of your eCommerce website. This can be problematic when you are working with a site that has multiple languages.
While WPML is not my language plugin of choice for WordPress, it definitely requires the least amount of work to get running with the WooCommerce ecommerce plugin. It also has several necessary functionalities that make importing products in multiple languages easier than it looks. Here’s my process in more detail.
Import Products in Default Language
A small tip, would be to have all your product images, categories, attributes and tags already uploading into WordPress. I’ve drag-and-drop uploaded over 500 images with no problem, so you shouldn’t have any problems either!
In any case, the first step is to only import the products in the default language of your theme. If you don’t do this, you’ll want to shoot yourself later on. This is relatively easy to do and if you need help working with the CSV either drop a line in the comments or read the official plugin documentation.
Export All Your Products
These easiest way to set up a unique way of detecting what products are in your default language is by exporting them before duplicating. This will allow you to create a function in Excel that can tell you if they are in the default language master sheet or not. This method of ID will only work if you are doing a bilingual site. I’m sure you can figure out a better way if you’re dealing with multiple languages. Please leave the method in the comments if you do!
Duplicate Your Products in Every Other Language
Go to the WPML Translation Dashboard in the Translation Management section. Select all your product posts and scroll down. You should see the option to duplicate the posts for your other languages. Do it as many times as needed. Be sure to have your selection only include posts that have no translation or you may be repeating the same action over and over for nothing.
Merge Proper Text for All Non-Default Languages
This is the last step on your translation journey. Export all your products and use the Excel sheet with your default language products to identity them if needed. Update the relevant information for your translations and merge. Your task is now done!