How to easily configure multi-language support in Ubuntu Linux system

For users using non-English languages ​​on Ubuntu Linux systems, you may encounter some display and input issues. However, this doesn't mean you have to rely entirely on the English system interface. In fact, configuring multi-language support for Ubuntu is very simple, just follow the steps described in this article.

This is a quick tutorial showing the steps to change language from the command line on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.

In fact, I’ve been writing in Spanish. If you haven’t accessed it and/or you’re a Spanish speaker, visit It’s FOSS en Español and check out all Linux content in Spanish.
You may be wondering why I’m sharing this with you, and it’s because this post uses this new page as an example.
During a new installation of your favorite Linux distribution, you'll be asked to choose a primary language. Some people, like me, later consider changing the language to a new one, although this is not frequent.
You see, I had to take screenshots in both Spanish and English. This becomes a problem since I only have one computer and changing users is not a quick solution for me.
That's why I want to share this quick trick with you, where I'll show you how to change your main system language with two simple lines of text in the terminal.
let's start!
Changing the Linux system language from the terminal
Let's say you want to change your primary language from English to Spanish.
Confirm which language you have set as the default language (primary language). To do this, let's use the locale command.

locale

You should see something like this:

team@itsfoss:~$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

Here you can see that the main language is English. Now to change it, use the dpkg command as follows:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales

When you run the previous command, you should see the following page in the terminal:

sudo dpkg reconfigure locales

Here you should use the up and down arrows to move until you reach the desired language. In my case I want Spanish, more specifically Mexican Spanish since I'm Mexican.
Not all languages ​​have this option, but if yours does, choose UTF-8.
Once you find your language, press the space bar to mark it and press Enter.

Selecting your language

Finally, in the last window, select the new language as your default language by using the arrow keys to move to it and pressing the Enter key.

Setting new language as default
Once completed, you should see a message like this in your terminal:

Generating locales (this might take a while)...
en_US.UTF-8... done
es_MX.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.

That’s it! Now you can change your default language as many times as you want directly from the terminal.

In general, configuring multi-language support in Ubuntu Linux systems is very simple and convenient. Whether you want to make it easier to use your English system environment, or you need to make the display and input of other languages ​​​​more fluid, the steps described in this article will help you. We strongly recommend that you try multi-language configuration and enjoy the more convenient and smoother experience that the Ubuntu Linux system brings to you!

The above is the detailed content of How to easily configure multi-language support in Ubuntu Linux system. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!