Sometimes it is necessary to change the computer language, because maybe we share the PC with a foreign friend or because some configuration error has led to the change of the unaware language. Windows supports language change in almost every edition and version (except on the home versions of Windows 7), it takes very few mouse clicks to set one or more languages on the system.
The complications can arise from the fact that if you find a language with a different alphabet like Chinese or Russian, it becomes difficult to find the buttons to put it back in Italian or English.
In this guide we will show you the steps to be performed in order to change or add a language on a PC with Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.
If the language on the operating system is incomprehensible, just know that the buttons and icons are the same so just go to intuition and select the desired language at the right time.
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1) Change language on Windows 10 PC
If we use the latest version of the Windows operating system (10), to change the language simply open the Settings menu (the one with a gear icon, then click on the Date / time and language item (the icon in the shape of clock and characters) and finally open the Language menu (third item on the left side, starting from the top).
In order to change the language, we must first add it; to do this we click the Add a language button (it is the only button with a + next to it) and, in the drop-down menu that will appear, we choose the language to add (we can also use the search engine at the top).
Once we find the language to add, click on Next and wait for the download of the necessary files to finish.
At the end we can change the language by going back to the Language menu and changing it on the drop-down menu under the heading Windows display language .
If, on the other hand, you want to add a language to the one already present (to view instructions and pages in multiple languages, if necessary), simply go to the same menu, click on Add a language and choose the language to be used alongside the basic one (we recommend having always English at hand, given how important it is in computer science).
Restarting Windows may be required for the changes to take effect.
READ ALSO: Change language in Windows 10 (PC in Italian or adding other languages)
2) Change language on Windows 8.1 PC
If instead we use Windows 8.1 as the operating system for our computer, to change the language simply open the right sidebar (moving the mouse on the edge of the screen) then click on the Settings button (with a gear icon) and then on the item Change PC settings (if the language is incomprehensible, just click on the last sentence at the bottom, just below the icons).
The Modern app will now open and manage all PC settings; to change the language, go to the Date / time and language menu (the third item on the left, starting from the bottom) and, in the menu that we will see appear, click on Geographical area and language (the second item on the left starting from the top).
As already seen for Windows 10 we add a language by clicking on the Add a language item (the only button with the + next to it) and choose the desired language in the window.
As soon as we have selected a language it will be downloaded to the PC; to make it effective let's go back to the Geographical area and language menu and, under the Country or geographic area section, make sure to select the country corresponding to the downloaded language.
Even in this case we can add more than one language, just repeat the steps described to have more active languages (better to add English immediately, as we had already mentioned).
At the end of all the steps we restart Windows to make the changes effective.
3) Change language on Windows 7 PC
To change the language on the oldest operating system from Microsoft still supported (ie Windows 7) we will have to use the Control Panel .
The Control Panel is also present on Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 (with very slight differences) and allows you to change the language in a slightly more complex way than the menus we have shown above; unless we have specific needs, we only use the Control Panel on Windows 7 (where it's the only way to change the language).
The procedure changes if we have Windows 7 Home / Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate, since the control panel has a different method to change the displayed language according to the version in use.
Once Windows 7 Home or Professional has started, we click on the bottom left of the Start menu icon and open the Control Panel (the fourth item starting from the bottom, in the right part of the menu, ignoring the shutdown or restart button).
As soon as the Control Panel appears, we click on the Clock and international options icon (world and clock icon).
In the new window we click on the item Change country (present just below the second section shown on the screen).
Now we choose, in the new screen, the country and its language to be used in the drop-down menu.
The language may not change immediately, as the system will download the necessary language pack first; in any case we proceed to a restart and keep Windows Update active and ready to update automatically.
If instead we have Windows 7 Ultimate, we always open the Control Panel as seen in the first part of this section and click on the item Change display language, present as a second item under the Clock and international options section.
The same menu will open as seen with the other versions of Windows 7, but this time with an additional section: to add the desired language to the system, click on the Install / Uninstall languages button (if it is in an incomprehensible language, just see if it is present a small shield on the button).
In the new window that appears, click on Install display languages and then on Start Windows Update (in both cases it is the first item starting from the top in both windows).
The search for available language packs will start immediately; download the one relating to the language we intend to use.
At the end of the installation, go to the Change country menu as seen in the initial part of this section and set the country of the downloaded language.
With this procedure we can also add more languages, so as to have a suitable multilingual system if the PC is also used by foreign users or we want to learn more languages.
4) How to download language packs
Most language packs can be downloaded directly from Windows, taking advantage of Windows Update (which will automatically proceed when requesting a new language).
If the internal procedure does not work, we can always download the language packs manually by visiting the site present here -> Windows Language Pack .
We choose the version of Windows we have on the page, scroll down the page until we find the desired language and finally click on Get It Now to start the download of the installer.
At the end of the download, just double click on the installer to add the desired language and, to make it effective, just follow the steps that we have illustrated in this guide.
There is no limit to the number of languages we can download with language packs: we choose the languages to add and install them all, regardless of the operating system used.
