Changing Word to Work in English

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 27, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Zack is an American working in China and will be doing a lot of writing and design work in Word. The only problem is that his copy of Word (and Windows, for that matter) is in Chinese, which Zack cannot read. He wonders if there is a way to change the default so he can actually use this at work without having to look up the file paths for tools at home every night.

The short answer is that there is no setting or way to do this. You can get language-specific versions of Microsoft products, or you can get multi-language versions. The latter are more expensive, and most companies don't get them. Further, you can't change a language-specific product into a multi-language product; there is just no way to do it that we've discovered.

For more information on internationalization, from a Microsoft perspective, you might want to check out various articles by "Dr. International" at this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/DrIntl/default.mspx

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3395) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Unwanted Graph Paper Effect

When you open a document or start to use Word, do you see a background that looks like graph paper? It could be because ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of Section Breaks, but Not Section Formatting

Word allows you to change the character of how your pages are designed by using multiple sections in a document. If you ...

Discover More

Switching between a Dialog Box and the Document

Word uses lots of dialog boxes as a way of setting configuration options and gathering information from users. When ...

Discover More

Discover the Power of Microsoft Office This beginner-friendly guide reveals the expert tips and strategies you need to skyrocket your productivity and use Office 365 like a pro. Mastering software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is essential to be more efficient and advance your career. Simple lessons guide you through every step, providing the knowledge you need to get started. Check out Microsoft Office 365 For Beginners today!

More WordTips (menu)

Editing a Toolbar Button Image

You already know that Word allows you to customize the tools on your toolbars. You may not have known that it also allows ...

Discover More

Hiding and Displaying Hidden Text

You can easily hide text by simply changing the attributes associated with the text. Once that is done, you can turn the ...

Discover More

Misbehaving Rulers

When upgrading from Word 2000 to 2002, many people have a problem with the Ruler function. This tip explains how to fix ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is eight more than 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.