6

My keyboard layout is UK, so I must keep the UK layout. How can I change the system language (including dictionaries in browsers, libreoffice, etc) to US English?

I tried to change it from Language support, but English (US) is not active to be selected.

enter image description here

2 Answers 2

4

Go to: System Setting -> Language Support . Select prefered language there and select also an option "Apply system wide"

Other option is to open the enviroments file in /etc/ directory. Run a terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) and write:

sudo gedit /etc/default/locale

Change the entries there to "en_US.UTF-8". The change will be seen only after Log Out -> Log In.

6
  • 1
    I tried this, but the option is deactive to be selected.
    – Googlebot
    Apr 24, 2016 at 19:13
  • 1
    @All: No it's not. You are supposed to drag it to the top. Apr 24, 2016 at 19:16
  • Note that you also want to change options in RegionalFormat tab at LanguageSupport window. And like Gunnar Hjalmarsson said, the language option must de draged to the top. All options bellow English will be ignored. You may not have installed all language options. There is "Install/Remove Language" button present in the same window. Apr 24, 2016 at 19:27
  • @GunnarHjalmarsson silly me, it's written down there :p
    – Googlebot
    Apr 24, 2016 at 19:57
  • This is not intuitive, the interface just says "Drag languages to arrange them in order of preference"; There is zero indication that the greyed-out (disabled) languages can be dragged and will become enabled if dragged to the top. Bad, non-discoverable UI design!
    – MRule
    Dec 16, 2021 at 10:18
3

Open settings and select Region & Language.

Click the "Language" section. Mine is UK as well.

Select the language you want:

Click Done. You will have to log out and then log in again for the changes to take effect. You can click the "Restart Session" to do this:

When you log in, you may have to set your keyboard back to UK - but probably not. If you do have to, the changes should be persistent from then on.

5
  • 2
    Probably the OP is not on Ubuntu GNOME. Apr 24, 2016 at 19:18
  • @GunnarHjalmarsson Is it different?
    – Tim
    Apr 24, 2016 at 20:00
  • The GUI:s are different. The OP showed a screenshot from the Language Support GUI, which is used on Ubuntu, Xubuntu, and Lubuntu, but not installed by default on Ubuntu GNOME. "Region & Language" is Ubuntu GNOME specific. Apr 24, 2016 at 20:53
  • @GunnarHjalmarsson yes, after I posted the answer. I'll leave this one here - feel free to post a non Gnome one.
    – Tim
    Apr 24, 2016 at 21:10
  • Yeah, you should indeed keep it. The question was generally asked, and your answer will be useful to Ubuntu GNOME users. :) Apr 24, 2016 at 21:14

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .