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Mac Os Language Support



Applies to Office 2004 and Office 2008

Microsoft lists supported languages in Word Help for Office 2008 (topic: 'About proofing tools', online help must be active) and Office 2004 (topic: 'About Microsoft proofing tools'). All versions of Office should come with the same assortment of languages, whether retail standard, retail home and student, or a volume license. Note: Office does not support right-to-left languages. In addition, you cannot change the user interface (UI) language of menus, etc, in Office.

Otherwise, the best programming language to learn on your Mac is Java. If you are interested in the mechanics of programming, learn Python. Once you've got all that working, it'll be time to move.

If the language you need is listed as supported, see Check Spelling in a Different Language for instructions on installing and using the proofing tools.

Several English-speaking MacFixIt readers have recently inquired about the removal of extraneous language support files from Mac OS X in an effort to constrain startup volume disk usage. On your Mac, choose Apple menu System Preferences, then click Language & Region. Write and Run Code in Any Language. CodeRunner was designed to support all of the most widely used programming languages and run them instantly. The app is configured to run code in 25 languages out-of-the-box, and additional languages can be configured to run by simply entering their terminal command. Almost all language can be supported on a given platform like Mac OS, its the compiler of the language that has to built first in order to support it. So basically if there is compiler available for that particular OS then its supported otherwise not. So now your question might be like what are available compilers/language available for Max OS.

  • Office 2008 Languages (external link to Word Online Help) [Lene Fredborg, 11-Feb-2018: Removed outdated link to http://www.microsoft.com/Mac/help.mspx?clr=99-4-0&srcid=987fc20a-b6bd-49db-8ba1-6a263a924b411033&ep=9&target=6474a4a6-9d3e-4bde-a255-fb9286ef5d101033&CTT=RelatedLink&usid=1947081e-0474-4df5-9aab-daca1f30c55f
  • Office 2004 Languages (unofficial list below)

Note that 'Dictionary' is used in Office 2004 as a generic term for a proofing file. Spelling is the most basic form of proofing, so the languages listed here can all be spellchecked. Grammar checking is very limited—you will only see grammar files for a few languages. MacOffice will only offer actual definitions for English; if you want definitions for any other language, you will need a third-party tool. Word 2004 includes proofing tools for more languages than Word X did, most notably Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.

My Language Isn't Supported! What Now?

One possible, partial, fix: if you can download a dictionary from Aspell (or elsewhere), you may be able to load it as a custom dictionary into Word. See Word Help on creating a custom dictionary and follow it exactly. Copy the words from the Aspell dictionary into a Word custom dictionary. In this case, you probably want to set the language for the custom dictionary. Then when you tag your text as, say, Polish, Word should use the Polish custom dictionary. This approach also works well for scientific/medical dictionaries, or other specialized lexicons.

NOTE: Reports on this would be appreciated, preferably on the newsgroup. Using custom dictionaries to support additional languages is currently untested—the main issue is that the custom dictionary may be too large for Word to handle. You can create multiple custom dictionaries with different names to address this issue. If you begin to see problems, quitting Word and trashing the custom dictionary should fix them.

Otherwise, you will need to go to third-party tools. If it isn't on the installation CD, MS doesn't offer it for the Mac. SpellCatcher X is a well-known program that will integrate with Word (offering many features beyond just proofing), but not the only one. CocoAspell can be used to extend the OS language capabilities, but that route would require you to do your spell-checking in TextEdit or another word processor that leans on the OS features.

Mac Os Language Support

Search the archives of the microsoft.public.mac.office.word [Lene Fredborg, 11-Feb-2018: Removed outdated link to http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.mac.office.word] newsgroup to see what others have suggested for various languages. Also, look for webpages, newsgroups, listservs, or online forums specific to Mac users who speak the language you want—those people are likely to know the best workarounds and alternatives.

Be sure to let MS know that you want a language supported by using Help | Send Feedback in Word (or visit the feedback website [Lene Fredborg, 11-Feb-2018: Removed outdated link to http://www.microsoft.com/Mac/suggestions.mspx]). Offer all information that might let the MacBU understand what market is going to buy Word because it supports a particular language—such decisions are made on the basis of cost versus expected profit, so try to convince them supporting a language will earn them more money.

Unicode, Right-to-left, etc

Language support involves two dimensions—being able to type in a language, and being able to proof a language (that is, check spelling and grammar for it, like proofreading). This article concentrates on proofing. However, you should be aware that although Office is mostly Unicode-compliant so that you can type a great range of characters and diacritical marks, OFFICE DOES NOT SUPPORT RIGHT-TO-LEFT LANGUAGES such as Arabic, Hebrew, etc . Please search the archives of the microsoft.public.mac.office.word newsgroup for more information on entering characters and diacritical marks for various languages, and for alternatives that do support right-to-left languages. Mellel and Nisus Writer are the most frequently mentioned alternatives.

Be sure to let MS know that you want a language supported by using Help | Send Feedback in Word (or visit the feedback website [Lene Fredborg, 11-Feb-2018: Removed outdated link to http://www.microsoft.com/Mac/suggestions.mspx]). Offer all information that might let the MacBU understand what market is going to buy Word because it supports a particular language—such decisions are made on the basis of cost versus expected profit, so try to convince them supporting a language will earn them more money.

Proofing Tools Shipped with Office 2004

The information here is an unofficial list based on one person's experience doing a custom installation that included all available proofing tools. Minor variations on this list have been reported, but it seems to be substantially accurate.

These are the proofing files that were installed in Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Shared Applications/Proofing Tools/.

Mac Os Language Support App

  • Aus English Hyph Dictionary
  • Australian Spelling Dictionary
  • Bokmal Spelling
  • Brazilian Hyph Dictionary
  • Brazilian Hyphenation
  • Brazilian Spelling
  • Brazilian Spelling Dictionary
  • Brazilian Thesaurus
  • Brazilian Thesaurus Dictionary
  • Danish Dictionary
  • Danish Hyphenation
  • Danish Hyphenation Dictionary
  • Danish Spelling
  • Danish Thesaurus Dictionary
  • Danish Thesaurus3
  • Dutch Hyphenation Dictionary
  • Dutch Spelling Dictionary
  • Dutch Thesaurus Dictionary
  • English (US) Word Forms
  • English Grammar
  • English Grammar Dictionary
  • English Hyphenation
  • English Spelling
  • English Thesaurus
  • Finnish Dictionary
  • Finnish Hyphenation
  • Finnish Hyphenation Dictionary
  • Finnish Spelling
  • Finnish Thesaurus Dictionary
  • Finnish Thesaurus3
  • French Dictionary1
  • French Dictionary2
  • French Grammar
  • French Grammar Dictionary1
  • French Grammar Dictionary2
  • French Grammar Help
  • French Grammar Parameter
  • French Grammar Reference
  • French Hyphen Dictionary
  • French Hyphenation
  • French Spelling
  • French Thesaurus
  • French Thesaurus Dictionary
  • German Dictionary (post-reform)
  • German Dictionary (pre-reform)
  • German Grammar
  • German Grammar Dictionary
  • German Hyph Dict (post-reform)
  • German Hyph Dict (pre-reform)
  • German Hyphenation
  • German Spelling
  • German Thes Dict (post-reform)
  • German Thes Dict (pre-reform)
  • German Thesaurus
  • Italian Grammar
  • Italian Grammar Dict
  • Italian Hyphenation
  • Italian Hyphenation Dict
  • Italian Spelling Dict
  • Italian Spelling3
  • Italian Thesaurus
  • Italian Thesaurus Dict
  • Japanese Proofing
  • Japanese Proofing Dictionary
  • NL Hyphenation Carbon
  • NL Spelling Carbon
  • NL Thesaurus Carbon
  • Norwegian BOK Dictionary
  • Norwegian BOK Hyph Dictionary
  • Norwegian BOK Hyphenation
  • Norwegian BOK Thes Dict
  • Norwegian BOK Thesaurus3
  • Norwegian NYN Dictionary
  • Norwegian NYN Hyph Dictionary
  • Norwegian NYN Hyphenation
  • Nynorsk Spelling
  • Portuguese Hyphation Dictionary
  • Portuguese Hyphenation
  • Portuguese Spelling
  • Portuguese Spelling Dictionary
  • Portuguese Thesaurus
  • Portuguese Thesaurus Dictionary
  • Spanish Dictionary
  • Spanish Hyphen Dictionary
  • Spanish Hyphenation
  • Spanish Spelling3
  • Spanish Thesaurus
  • Spanish Thesaurus Dict
  • Spanish Thesaurus Dict 2
  • Swedish Dictionary
  • Swedish Grammar
  • Swedish Grammar Dictionary
  • Swedish Hyphenation
  • Swedish Hyphenation Dictionary
  • Swedish Spelling3
  • Swedish Thesaurus Dictionary
  • Swedish Thesaurus3
  • UK English Thesaurus
  • US English Hyph Dictionary
  • US English Spelling Dictionary
  • US English Thesaurus

Proofing Tools Shipped with Office 2008

These are the proofing files that were installed in Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/Shared Applications/Proofing Tools (note the change of location from Office 2004).

  • BokmalHyphenation.proofingtool
  • BokmalSpeller.proofingtool
  • BokmalThesaurus.proofingtool
  • BrazilianHyphenation.proofingtool
  • BrazilianSpeller.proofingtool
  • BrazilianThesaurus.proofingtool
  • DanishHyphenation.proofingtool
  • DanishSpeller.proofingtool
  • DanishThesaurus.proofingtool
  • DutchHyphenation.proofingtool
  • DutchSpeller.proofingtool
  • DutchThesaurus.proofingtool
  • EnglishGrammar.proofingtool
  • EnglishHyphenation.proofingtool
  • EnglishSpeller.proofingtool
  • EnglishThesaurus.proofingtool
  • EnglishWordForms.lexicon
  • FinnishHyphenation.proofingtool
  • FinnishSpeller.proofingtool
  • FinnishThesaurus.proofingtool
  • FrenchGrammar.proofingtool
  • FrenchHyphenation.proofingtool
  • FrenchSpeller.proofingtool
  • FrenchThesaurus.proofingtool
  • GermanGrammar.proofingtool
  • GermanHyphenation.proofingtool
  • GermanSpeller.proofingtool
  • GermanThesaurus.proofingtool
  • ItalianGrammar.proofingtool
  • ItalianHyphenation.proofingtool
  • ItalianSpeller.proofingtool
  • ItalianThesaurus.proofingtool
  • JapaneseProofing.proofingtool
  • NynorskHyphenation.proofingtool
  • NynorskSpeller.proofingtool
  • PortugueseHyphenation.proofingtool
  • PortugueseSpeller.proofingtool
  • PortugueseThesaurus.proofingtool
  • SpanishHyphenation.proofingtool
  • SpanishSpeller.proofingtool
  • SpanishThesaurus.proofingtool
  • SwedishGrammar.proofingtool
  • SwedishHyphenation.proofingtool
  • SwedishSpeller.proofingtool
  • SwedishThesaurus.proofingtool

If there’s only one user account on your Mac

If there's only one user account on your Mac, use these steps to change the primary language you use with that account. This also changes the language used at the login screen:

  1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
  2. Click Language & Region.
  3. Drag the desired language to the top of the Preferred languages list. If the language you want isn't listed, click the Add (+) button to add the language you want.
  4. Restart your Mac.

After your Mac restarts, the login screen uses the language you set.

If there’s more than one user account on your Mac

If there's more than one user account on your Mac, or you want to change only the language at the login screen, use these steps:

  1. Log in as an admin user.
  2. Open Terminal from the Utilities folder.
  3. Type or paste this command in Terminal:
  4. Press Return.
  5. When prompted for a password, enter an administrator account password and press Return.
  6. A list of available languages is displayed. Type the number that appears next to the language you want to use, then press Return.
  7. Quit Terminal.

The next time you log out or restart your Mac, the login screen uses the language you set.

Change your keyboard layout

How to make my pc look like a mac. To select a different input method or keyboard at the login screen, click the Input menu in the upper-right corner of the menu bar and choose an option.

If you don't see the Input menu, use these steps to add it to the login screen:

Macos Language Support

  1. Log in.
  2. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
  3. Click the Users & Groups icon.
  4. Click the lock icon. Enter an admin user name and password.
  5. Click Login Options.
  6. Select the option to Show Input menu in login window.




Mac Os Language Support
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