You just unboxed a beautiful new M3 Pro or maybe you’re staring at an older Intel machine you bought second-hand. It’s gorgeous. It’s sleek. But there’s a problem: the menus are in a language you don’t speak, or maybe you're a polyglot who needs to switch between English and Japanese for work. How to change language in MacBook settings sounds like it should be a one-click affair, but macOS handles this with a bit more nuance than a standard smartphone.
Apple’s ecosystem is built on "System Settings" (formerly System Preferences), and while the interface has become more "iOS-like" over the last few years, the way it handles localization is actually quite deep. You aren't just changing the labels on your folders. You're changing how the calendar calculates the first day of the week, how dates are formatted, and even how Siri interprets your voice.
Honestly, it’s easy to mess this up if you don't know where the "Primary" toggle is hiding.
The Basic Route: System Settings is Your Best Friend
Forget hunting through the Terminal or downloading weird third-party localization packs. macOS has everything baked in. If you're running Ventura, Sonoma, or the latest Sequoia, your path is through that little silver Apple icon in the top left corner.
Click System Settings.
Once that window pops up, you’ll see a sidebar. You want to scroll down to General. It’s usually represented by a gear icon. From there, look for Language & Region. This is the nerve center for everything related to how your Mac "speaks" to you.
Here’s the thing that trips people up: the list of languages. You’ll see a section titled "Preferred Languages." If the language you want isn't there, you have to hit the plus (+) button. But simply adding it doesn't change the system. You have to drag your desired language to the very top of the list. macOS treats this list as a hierarchy. If an app doesn't support your top choice, it moves to the second.
Why the Restart Matters
You might notice that after you drag "Français" or "Español" to the top, some things change instantly, but others stay the same. This is because macOS loads language assets into memory when a process starts. Basically, to get a full, system-wide change, you have to restart.
It's annoying. I know. But without a reboot, you’ll find weird "ghost" English in your Finder windows or menu bars.
Changing Language for Just One App
Sometimes you don't want the whole MacBook to change. Maybe you’re learning German and you want your Notes app to be in German, but you need your professional video editing software like Final Cut Pro to stay in English so you don't lose your workflow.
Apple actually thought of this.
In that same Language & Region pane, if you scroll down to the bottom, there’s a section called Applications. Click the plus button there. You can pick a specific app—say, Microsoft Word—and assign it a specific language. This overrides the system-wide setting. It’s a lifesaver for language learners who want to immerse themselves without the risk of accidentally deleting their hard drive because they couldn't read a "Format Disk" warning.
The Keyboard Conundrum
Changing the display language is only half the battle. If you've figured out how to change language in MacBook menus, you probably also need to actually type in that language.
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Many people think the language and the keyboard are the same thing. They aren't.
- System Language: What you read.
- Input Source: What you type.
To fix the typing side, you head to System Settings > Keyboard. Click the Edit button next to Input Sources. If you’re switching to a language like Chinese or Arabic, you’ll have a few different layout options (like Pinyin or QWERTY-Arabic).
Pro tip: Check the box that says "Show Input menu in menu bar." This puts a little flag or icon in your top right corner. You can click it to swap between languages instantly without diving back into settings every time. Or, better yet, use the Globe key (fn) on newer MacBooks to cycle through your languages. It’s tactile and much faster.
Hidden Complexities: The Login Screen
Here is a weird quirk that even "experts" forget. You’ve changed your language, you’ve restarted, and everything looks great. Then you log out.
Suddenly, the login screen is back in the old language. Why?
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Because the login screen is a system-level process that hasn't been told that your user profile changed. To fix this, you usually need to use a Terminal command if you're comfortable, or ensure that you’ve applied the changes to "All Users" if prompted. Most of the time, a simple restart after setting the Primary language handles this, but if it sticks, it’s usually because the system-wide localization file (located in /Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist) hasn't updated its "AppleLanguages" key.
Kinda technical? Yeah. But that's the Mac for you—simple on the surface, Unix underneath.
What About Siri?
Siri lives in her own world. Changing your MacBook language does not automatically change Siri’s language. If you want to talk to your Mac in a different tongue, you have to go to System Settings > Siri & Spotlight.
There’s a dedicated dropdown menu for Language. If you change this, Siri might need to download a high-quality voice pack, which can take a few minutes depending on your Wi-Fi. It’s worth the wait because the default "compact" voices sound like robots from 1995.
Common Issues and Troubleshooting
Occasionally, you'll try to add a language and get an error, or the language simply won't download. This usually happens if your disk space is critically low. Language packs aren't huge, but macOS likes to have a buffer.
If you find that your dates look weird—like the year is appearing before the month—check the Region settings right under the language list. You can have your Mac set to English but your Region set to United Kingdom. This gives you English menus but uses the metric system and 24-hour clocks. It’s the "best of both worlds" setup for many expats living abroad.
Real-World Example: The "Half-Translated" Mac
I once helped a friend who bought a MacBook in Tokyo. Even after changing the language to English, some of the system utilities like Disk Utility stayed in Japanese.
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The fix? We had to delete the English language from the list entirely, restart, then add it back as the primary. It’s a "turn it off and back on again" solution, but for the language cache. It forced macOS to re-index the localization strings for every system app.
Actionable Steps to Perfect Your Setup
Don't just stop at the menu bars. To truly master the language settings on your Mac, follow this workflow:
- Set the Primary: Go to Language & Region and drag your choice to the top.
- Verify the Region: Ensure your currency and measurement units match your local needs.
- Add Input Sources: Enable the keyboard layouts you need and turn on the Menu Bar shortcut.
- Check App Overrides: Use the "Applications" tab for specific tools that you prefer in a secondary language.
- Reboot: Don't just close the lid. Do a full restart to clear the cache.
- Update Siri: Sync your voice assistant to your new language choice in its dedicated settings pane.
Following these steps ensures you won't be hunting through Japanese or German menus when you're in a rush to finish a project. Your MacBook is a global machine; it's designed to be flexible, so make sure you're using that flexibility to its full potential.