Windows 10 At Work For Dummies
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If you frequently work with multiple languages, you need to know about the language options available with Windows 10. You can add a keyboard input language or take advantage of a language pack.

Add a keyboard input language

You may want to add a keyboard input language or two. To add a keyboard input language, follow these steps:

  1. Open Settings.

  2. Click Time & Language.

    The list of time- and language-related settings appears.

  3. Click Region & Language.

    The settings for configuring the country, region, and languages are shown

  4. In the Languages section, click the + button beside Add a Language.

    The Add A Language window appears, showing all the available languages.

  5. Scroll the list of languages until you find the one that you’re looking for.

  6. Click the language that you want to add.

    A list with multiple dialects of that language appears.

  7. Click the dialect that you want to add.

    You’re informed that a new feature is added to Windows. The language is downloaded in the background; you can resume using Windows.

  8. Close Settings.

    Now you can use the added keyboard input language.

    How to add a keyboard input language.
    How to add a keyboard input language.

Download a language pack

Using Windows Update, you can install a language pack for languages other than your own. After you download a language pack and activate it, the Windows 10 operating system is translated into that language. Depending on the language, either the entire operating system is translated or only part of it. When no translation is available, Windows 10 uses English to display the elements that haven’t been translated by Microsoft.

In order to install a language pack, you need to first install the keyboard input language. Once the keyboard input language is installed, you can use only the new language to type. In order to translate the entire operating system, follow these steps to install the language pack:

  1. Open Settings.

  2. Click Time & Language.

    The list of time- and language-related settings appears.

  3. Click Region & Language.

    The settings for configuring the country, region, and languages are shown

  4. Click the language for the language pack you want to install.

  5. Click Options.

    A new window appears with several language options.

    How to download a language pack in Windows 10.
    How to download a language pack in Windows 10.
  6. Find the Download button in the Language Options section.

  7. Click the Download button to begin the installation.

    Be patient, as the download takes a while.

    When the install is complete, you receive a message to that effect.

  8. Close the Settings window.

At Step 4, the languages which have a language pack available to download and install are marked by a line of text that says: “Language pack available”. If a language pack isn’t mentioned as being available for a particular language, then you can’t download a language pack for it. You can use that language only as a keyboard input language, not as a display language.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Ciprian Adrian Rusen is a Microsoft MVP and Windows expert. His 7tutorials.com blog has more than 1.3 million monthly readers who look to him for insight into technology in general and Windows in particular.

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