You can use the Office language options to add a language, to choose the UI display language, and to set the authoring and proofing language.
The language options are in the Set the Office Language Preferences section of the Office Options dialog box, which you can access by going to File > Options > Language. The display and authoring languages can be set independently. For example, you could have everything match the language of your operating system, or you could use a combination of languages for your operating system, authoring, and Office UI display.
The available languages depend on the language version of Office and any additional language pack, language interface pack, or ScreenTip languages that are installed on your computer.Â
Add a language
You can add a display language or an authoring language. A display language determines the language Office uses in the UI - ribbon, buttons, dialog boxes, etc. An authoring language influences text direction and layout for vertical, right-to-left, and mixed text. Authoring languages also include proofing tools such as dictionaries for spelling and grammar checking. (The preferred authoring language appears at the top of the list in bold. You can change this by choosing the language you want and selecting Set as Preferred.)
To add a display language:
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Open a desktop Office program, such as Word.
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Select File > Options > Language.
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Under Office display language, select Add a Language....
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Choose the desired language in the Add an authoring language dialog and then select Add.
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The added language appears in the list of Office display languages.
To add an authoring language:
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Open a desktop Office program, such as Word.
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Select File >Options >Language.
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Under Office authoring languages and proofing, select Add a Language....
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Choose the desired language in the Add an authoring language dialog and then select Add.
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The added language appears in the list of Office authoring languages.
If Proofing available appears next to the language name, you can obtain a language pack with proofing tools for your language. If Proofing not available is next to the language name, then proofing tools are not available for that language. If Proofing installed appears next to the language name, you're all set.
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To go online and get the language pack you need, select the Proofing available link.
Both kinds of Office languages (display and authoring) have a preferred language that you can set independently.
The preferred language appears in bold at the top of each language list. The order of the languages in the list is the order in which languages are used by Office. For example, if your display language order is Spanish <preferred>, German, and Japanese, and the Spanish language resources are removed from your computer, German becomes your preferred display language.
To set the preferred language:
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Open a desktop Office program, such as Word.
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Select File > Options > Language.
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Do one or both of the following:
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Under Office display language, choose the language you want from the list and then select Set as Preferred.
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Under Office authoring languages and proofing, choose the language you want from the list and then select Set as Preferred.
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See also
Enable or change the keyboard layout language
