Change language of word dictionary

Subscriber Stan Witz recently expressed his exasperation with getting Word 2000 to keep its language settings as English UK, rather than converting to English US. It seems that when he would make the changes necessary, eventually Word would always switch to English US.

Understanding how Word works with different languages can sometimes seem more difficult than actually learning those languages in the first place. There are, in reality, several different settings that come into play when working with languages in Word 2000 or later versions. To set the default language used by Word, you follow these steps:

1. Choose Language from the Tools menu, then choose Set Language from the submenu. Word displays the Language dialog box.
2. In the list of languages, select the one you want to use by default.
3. Click on the Default button. You are asked to confirm you action.
4. Close the Language dialog box.

The only thing that the Default button does is to change the language settings in whatever template you have attached to your current document. Thus, any new documents based on that template will default to the language you select. Any documents based on a different template will not, unless you change them, as well. In addition, any existing documents will not have their language changed. In order to affect an existing document, you need to do the following:

1. Select the entire document (press Ctrl+A).
2. Choose Language from the Tools menu, then choose Set Language from the submenu. Word displays the Language dialog box.
3. In the list of languages, select the one you want to use by default.
4. Click on the OK button.

The situation in regard to languages becomes even more complex, however. Let’s say your template has been set to have English UK as its language. Further, the styles in the template have the Automatically Update flag set. (This is not uncommon.) If you later open a document from someone else that has the language set to English US, or you edit an HTML-encoded e-mail that uses English US, then the styles in your template could automatically update to reflect English US rather than English UK. The solution to this, obviously, is to make sure that the Automatically Update flag is turned off for all your styles.

Another complexity is the language-related settings in Windows itself. (You can see these by selecting Start | Settings | Control Panel | Regional Options. Pay attention to both the Regional Settings/General tab and the Input Locales tab.) If you have more than one keyboard (input locale) installed on your system, when you start a blank document—regardless of the template in use—Word will automatically apply direct formatting on the text matching the currently active input locale, thereby overriding the default setting in the Language dialog box. Word is designed this way so that when you start typing, the language Word assumes you want to use has the greatest probability of matching the actual language being typed.

It is important to note that Word’s match-the-language-to-the-input-locale behavior applies direct (non-styled) formatting. The language in the template and its styles remains as you set it, Word simply overrides your default to match the setting of the input locale. The upshot, of course, is to make sure that the input locale specified in Windows is English UK, which is what you want Word to use for your documents.

Word 2000 and later versions have an additional feature that causes them to try to automatically determine the language you are actually typing, which in practice does not always match the language of the input locale (keyboard) you are using. This is controlled by the Detect Language Automatically check box in the Language dialog box. If you specify the languages you use in the Office Language Settings utility (Start | Programs | Microsoft Office Tools | Microsoft Office Language Settings), then the check box becomes active and you can select it. With the check box selected, Word tries to automatically detect the language you are typing, and then automatically sets the Language setting based on its determination.

Finally, even after you have the default language set as you really want it, the grammar and spelling tools may still not work properly. This is because those tools are not installed for all languages. Instead, you may need to purchase foreign language tools from Alki Software (this is where Microsoft would send you, as well). You can visit their Web site at http://www.proofing.com.

Author Bio

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen…

How to change proofing language in Word

As I already explained to you at the beginning of this guide, there are two scenarios in which it may prove necessary change the language on Word: the first concerns the modification of the language used in the spelling check phase of the documents; the second, on the other hand, involves the translation of the program interface, that is, the menus, options and functions available.

In this section, I will deal with the first option; instead, I will have the opportunity to analyze the second scenario in the next chapter of this tutorial.

Windows

The procedure for change the language of Word’s spell checker for Windows it is very simple: all you have to do, in practice, is to install the additional files specific to the language of your interest and set up Word so that it can use them correctly.

To proceed, start Microsoft Word calling it up from the menu Home Windows (the flag icon located in the lower left corner of the screen), creates a new document or open an existing one and, once you have entered the text entry interface, click on the menu Fillet (top left) and choose the item options from the next screen.

At this point, click on the section Language located in the left part of the window and check if the language of your interest is already present in the appropriate table attached to the box Change language choice: if so, click on it and press the button Set as default placed immediately next to the table.

Otherwise, instead, click on the drop-down menu [Aggiungere ulteriori lingue di modifies], choose the language of your interest from the proposed list (eg. English (United Kingdom)) and the first button Add placed immediately next to it to add it to the list of available languages. Should warnings appear regarding the download of additional files, accept without hesitation.

At this point, to carry out the grammar check (as well as the sorting options and dictionaries) using the newly added language, all you have to do is click on the relevant item and press the button Set as default resident next to the table of editing languages, confirming the willingness to proceed by pressing the button Yes. Finally, for the changes to take effect, you simply need to restart Word.

Note: when you are done, you can reset the correction in cittàn by repeating the same procedure and selecting the item as the default option cittàno (city), present in the list of available languages.

MacOS

Change the language of Word’s spell checker to MacOS it’s really very, very simple! To do this, start the program by selecting its icon from the Launchpad or by looking for it in Spotlight and go to the menu Tools> Language … (above) to access the menu for choosing the available languages.

At this point, click on language you want to use to spell check the current document and press the button OK to confirm the change. If, on the other hand, you want to make it the default in all documents, click on the buttons Presets … e Yes.

Word Online

If you use Word Online you should know that you can change the language of the spell check using the feature Editor. Therefore, open the link I provided, log in with your Microsoft account and open a document already present in the cloud or create a new one by choosing one of the templates above.

At this point, select the tab revision and press the icon ▼ situata accanto to the pulsating Editor. In the menu that is shown to you, then choose the item Set editing language and select the one you prefer, then confirming with the button OK.

Android / iOS / iPadOS

You need to do the grammar check in a different language on Word for Android (also available on alternative stores) or iOS / iPadOS? You can do this extremely quickly, by following a few simple instructions.

First, open the Word, create a new document or open an existing one, tap the button in the shape of upward arrowhead su Android o (…) on iOS, then press on the drop-down menu Home located at the bottom right and move to the section revision.

With that done, tap on the rumors Proofing tools and language> cittàno (or any other language set) to Android, or Proofing Tools> Proofing Language su iOS, and then choose the language of your interest from the list proposed later.

Finally, if you find yourself on Android, press the button several times to return to the previous menu and touch the text area of ​​the open document, until a warning appears about not checking the text in the new language set: touch the freccetta verse il basso corresponding to the aforementioned message and presses the button Download to immediately obtain the files of the language of your interest.

Once the download is complete, the document will be checked again and errors will be highlighted following the dictionary for the language set previously. Up iOSinstead, the language files are downloaded automatically. Easy, right?

Change the Word UI language

After showing you the steps required to change Word’s spell check language, it’s time to figure out how change the language of the program interface (menus, options and, where possible, help files). Below I show you all the steps necessary to perform this operation on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. Unfortunately, it is not possible to change the interface language in Word Online.

Windows

It is your intention change language on Word to Windows, especially for the user interface (menu, help file, etc.), you must first install the language pack (or Language Accessory Pack) best suited to your case. To proceed, first close all active Word and any Office program windows, saving the currently open files if necessary.

Once this is done, connected to this Internet page, click on the section that best suits the version of Office in your possession (eg. Newer versions, if you have Word 2016 or Word 2019) and choose the language of your interest (eg. English) from the drop-down menu immediately below. Once this is done, click on the link Download (64 bit) if you are using 64-bit Office or on the link Download (32 bit) if, on the other hand, 32-bit Office is installed on your computer.

Once you have obtained the language file (eg. setuplanguagepack.x64.en-us.exe), launch it, press the button Yes and follow the on-screen instructions (typically, you need to press the button several times NEXT and then the button Install) to add the newly downloaded language to all Office programs.

Once the procedure is complete, start Word again by creating a blank document or opening an existing one, brought to the menu Fillet and choose the item options from the proposed panel, then click on the section Language located in the left part of the window that opens on the screen and identifies the section Language choice for user interface and guide.

At this point, to change the localization of the Word menus and options, you have to choose the User interface language from the table on the left by clicking on the option of your interest (eg. English (United Kingdom)) and then on the button Set default placed immediately below; if you need to change the language of help files, repeat the operation with the table on the right.

For the changes to take effect, close Word (and all other Office programs) and open it immediately afterwards; if the changes do not apply, restart your computer.

When you are done, you can go back to the original language (the same as the operating system) by repeating the procedure above, taking care to select the option Same as Microsoft Windows

from the left table and the entry Same as the language of the user interface

from the one on the right. That’s all!

MacOS

For Macon the other hand, the speech is slightly different, as the Word user interface language automatically adapts to the language used by the operating system. This means, in practice, that for change language on Word you must necessarily change the language of macOS.

How? Very simple: first, access the System preference by clicking on the button in the shape of gear attached to the Dock bar, access the section Language and area and take a look at the section Preferred languages, the one that contains the languages ​​installed on the system. If the location of your interest is present in the list, «grab it» with the mouse and drag it to the top to apply it to the next reboot.

If, on the other hand, you cannot see the language of your interest, click on the button [+] placed immediately below the list in question, select the language of your interest from the proposed box and press the button Add to install it immediately. At this point, move the newly added language to the top of the list of available languages, as I showed you earlier.

Once this operation is complete, close the «System Preferences» window, restart the Mac and, once entered the system, open again WordIf everything went smoothly, the user interface language should be identical to the one in use on the system. When you are done, you can reset the cittàn following the same steps seen a little while ago.

Android

Also regarding Android, the reasoning is similar to that seen for macOS: to change the language of the Word user interface, it is also necessary to change the language of the smartphone or tablet, as all Office programs «inherit» the localization options from the operating system on which they are installed.

To proceed, tap the icon Settings placed in the drawer of your device, tap on the section System and, subsequently, on the rumors Languages ​​and input e Language: at this point, click on the button Add a language, select the language of your interest from the proposed list and move it to the top of it: to do so, press and hold the ☰ icon corresponding to the chosen language and «drag» the entire item to the first position in the list.

After a few seconds, the Android language should change and the language files related to the apps installed should be automatically downloaded: at this point, try to open the Word and verify that the user interface is displayed in the language of your choice.

iOS / iPadOS

Exactly as seen above, to change the user interface language of Word to iPhone / iPad you need to change the display language of the entire operating system.

Doing so is really simple: first, log in to Settings of iOS by touching the homonymous icon located on the Home screen, touch the items Generali e Language and area and, subsequently, access the section IPhone language (o IPad language).

At this point, search for the language of your interest in the list that is displayed on the screen (helping you, if necessary, with the search bar located at the top) and tap on its name to put the check mark on it; when you are done, press the button end located at the top right, touch the item Change to «[chosen language»] and wait a few seconds for the operation to be completed.

Finally, launch the app Word and verify that the user interface language has actually been changed; if not, manually restart your device.

How to change dictation language on Word

In Word you can use the dictation to easily type text by voice. By default the same language set on the operating system is used but you can also decide to change it, so as to allow you to dictate even in a foreign language.

In this regard, my advice is to consult my guide on how to dictate on Word, in which you will find all the useful information about this feature and how to change the language.

How to change keyboard language in Word

Based on the text you are typing in Word, it can be helpful to you change the keyboard layout, in order to reflect the same language as the text you need to write.

Although the default language is the same as that of the operating system, in case you want to add other languages ​​to the keyboard, I suggest you read my tutorial dedicated to the subject.

How to change language in Word