Changing the language on your Mac has important consequences. All apps will be changed to this language, provided that the language is supported by the app. So make sure you master the language well enough to find your way back. Do you only want to change the language of a single Mac app? That is also possible; check out our other tip. In that case, you do not have to change your entire Mac.
Change the language of your Mac
To change the language of your Mac, you will have to restart your Mac in between. So make sure you are not busy with all kinds of tasks, because they will be interrupted.
To change the system language, follow these steps:
- Open System Settings ( > System Settings).
- Go to General and tap the Language & Region menu.
- At the top is a list of languages. Click the plus sign and choose a new language.
- Confirm the language and restart your Mac.
You can also set a language that you have already added to your preferred languages. To do this, drag the language up so that it is at the top of the list. Then restart your Mac and the changes will be visible. If you no longer want to see a language in your preferences, click on it and then click the minus sign at the bottom left.
Preferred languages on Mac
We mentioned them above: preferred languages. When you add preferred languages, your Mac knows which languages you speak. An app will always be shown in the top language of the list if available. If the top language is not supported by an app, your Mac will continue searching your list until a supported language is found.
If an app does not support any of the languages in your list, this app will be shown in the default language as the app was developed. This could also be Chinese or Portuguese, if that is the language of the app.
You can change your preferred languages using the steps we described above. In the last step, choose not to add the language as the primary language. You can change the order of your languages by dragging the languages up and down. It is not required to restart your Mac after adding a preferred language.
If you only want to change the language of a Mac app, check out our tip. This has less impact on your Mac than changing the system language. We also have a tip about switching the keyboard on the Mac, for example if you prefer QWERTZ.
