How to Change Your Browser's Language

Six Methods:  Internet Explorer 6  Internet Explorer 7   Firefox 3.5 on Windows  Chrome 4 on Windows  Safari on Mac  Firefox 3.5 on Mac

This article describes how to change your browser language (also called locale). Changing your browser locale will cause some web pages to be displayed in a different language. Also, some web applications are written with a particular language in mind and may not work if you use another language.

Thus, changing your browser locale may be necessary to get a web application to load correctly. The instructions vary depending on the browser you are using, so please be sure to use the correct instructions for your browser. Scroll past the jump to learn how to get started.

# Method 1 of 6: Internet Explorer 6

1. Go to the "Tools" menu and choose "Internet Options..."



2. Click on the "General" tab.



3. Click on the "Languages" button.



4. Click on the "Add... " button to display a list of languages.



5. Choose the language you would like to add from the list and click "Add".



6. Use the "Move Up" and "Move Down" buttons as appropriate so that the language you want to use is the first one in the list.



7. Click "OK".



8. Click "OK" again.



9. If you are on a website, press the "Refresh" button.  If you are in a web application, log out and log back in again.

# Method 2 of 6: Internet Explorer 7

1. Go to the "Tools" menu and choose "Internet Options"


2. Click on the "General" tab



3. Click on the "Languages..." button.



4. Click on the "Add..." button to display a list of languages



5. Choose the language you would like to add from the list and click "OK".



6. Use the "Move Up" and "Move Down" buttons as appropriate so that the language you want to use is the first one in the list.



7. Click "OK".



8. Click "OK" again.



9. If you are on a website, press the "Refresh" button.  If you are in a web application, log out and log back in again.

# Method 3 of 6: Firefox 3.5 on Windows

1. Go to the "Tools" menu and choose "Options..."



2. Click on the "Content" button.



3. In the "Languages section" at the bottom of the dialog box, click the "Choose..." button.



4. At the bottom of the dialog box, click on the "Select a language to add..." dropdown and choose the language you would like to add.



5. Click on the Add button.



6. Use the "Move Up" and "Move Down" buttons as appropriate so that the language you want to use is the first one in the list.



7. Click "OK".



8. Click "OK" again.



9. If you are on a website, press the "Refresh" button.  If you are in a web application, log out and log back in again.

# Method 4 of 6: Chrome 4 on Windows

1. Click on the wrench icon to the right of the address bar and choose "Options..."

2. Click on the "Under the Hood" tab and scroll down to the "Web Content" section.

3. Click on the "Change font and language settings" button

4. Click on the "Languages" tab

5. Click on the "Add" button.

6. Choose the language you would like to use and click OK.

7. Use the "Move Up" and "Move Down" buttons as appropriate so that the language you want to use is the first one in the list.

8. Click "OK".

9. Click "Close".

10. If you are on a website, press the "Refresh" button. If you are in a web application, log out and log back in again.

# Method 5 of 6: Safari on Mac

There is no option to change the language/locale in Safari on a Macintosh computer. To change the locale you have to change the locale of the entire computer. This is not recommended because it will be difficult to change the locale for your computer back to its original locale because everything will be displayed in a different language! If you need to use a different locale, you would probably be better served by downloading a copy of Firefox.

# Method 6 of 6: Firefox 3.5 on Mac

1. Go to the "Firefox" menu and choose "Preferences..."

2. Click on the "Content" button.

3. In the "Languages section" at the bottom of the dialog box, click the "Choose..." button.

4. At the bottom of the dialog box, click on the "Select a language to add..." dropdown and choose the language you would like to add.

5. Click on the Add button.

6. Use the "Move Up" and "Move Down" buttons as appropriate so that the language you want to use is the first one in the list.

7. Click "OK".

8. Close the dialog box by pressing the "esc" key or by clicking on the red dot in the upper left corner of the dialog box.

9. If you are on a website, press the "Refresh" button. If you are in a web application, log out and log back in again.