How to change UI language

[CorentinBrule]

It's may be interisting to share a trick to change language of UI in "Configuring FontForge" topic.
FontForge use automaticly the OS localisation (explain here) and I don't know how to change this without rebuild app. But it's easy to hack this and force to use the english version in linux :
remove or rename the file /usr/share/locale/[your os language]/LC_MESSAGES/FontForge.mo
tadam ! And maybe a solution for Windows but I can't test for now.
If you validate the idea, I can write this and propose a pull request.
Have a nice end of year !

[jrbastien]

I have provided the procedure for linux and Windows on my blog (in French) to switch from French to English and vice versa. Feel free to use it to update the documentation.

FontForge en francais

[CorentinBrule]

I was exactly in this case. I couldn't find your tutorial with my search words. So I'll add this in the english and french version.
The french translation is a real good job, but I work with the scripting interface and it's easier to search in the reference with the english words. But I bookmark your Petit lexique français – anglais !

[Maraki412]

It's may be interisting to share a trick to change language of UI in "Configuring FontForge" topic. FontForge use automaticly the OS localisation (explain here) and I don't know how to change this without rebuild app. But it's easy to hack this and force to use the english version in linux : remove or rename the file /usr/share/locale/[your os language]/LC_MESSAGES/FontForge.mo tadam ! And maybe a solution for Windows but I can't test for now. If you validate the idea, I can write this and propose a pull request. Have a nice end of year !

It works perfectly for Windows too, not just for Linux. I simply renamed "locale" to "FontForge,mo" and after restarting it worked like a charm. Thank you !

[CarsonSlovoka]

It's may be interisting to share a trick to change language of UI in "Configuring FontForge" topic. FontForge use automaticly the OS localisation (explain here) and I don't know how to change this without rebuild app. But it's easy to hack this and force to use the english version in linux : remove or rename the file /usr/share/locale/[your os language]/LC_MESSAGES/FontForge.mo tadam ! And maybe a solution for Windows but I can't test for now. If you validate the idea, I can write this and propose a pull request. Have a nice end of year !

I am a Linux Ubuntu system.

The file is located at:

❌ /usr/share/locale/[your os language]/LC_MESSAGES/FontForge.mo
✅ /usr/local/share/locale/zh_TW/LC_MESSAGES/FontForge.mo

If it isn't found, you can search for it using the find command:

sudo find / -type f -name FontForge.mo

After locating it, you can rename it accordingly.

For example, if the language is zh_TW and you want to switch back to English,

you can rename FontForge.mo to orgFontForge.mo like this:

sudo mv -v /usr/local/share/locale/zh_TW/LC_MESSAGES/FontForge.mo /usr/local/share/locale/zh_TW/LC_MESSAGES/orgFontForge.mo

---

fontforge --version
Copyright (c) 2000-2024. See AUTHORS for Contributors.
 License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
 with many parts BSD <http://fontforge.org/license.html>. Please read LICENSE.
 Version: 20230101
 Based on sources from 2024-12-27 09:38 UTC-ML-D-GDK3.
 Based on source from git with hash: 9af60edefc61d1f9244601802067c33fd221db69
fontforge 20230101
build date: 2024-12-27 09:38 UTC

[JoesCat]

Seems a little bit harsh to be modifying files in root mode, but as the saying goes, there is more than one road to Rome :-)

See if this works for you (providing 4 examples below):

export LANG=pt_PT.UTF-8 export LANGUAGE=pt
fontforge
export LANG=es_ES.UTF-8 export LANGUAGE=es
fontforge
export LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8 export LANGUAGE=fr
fontforge
export LANG=en_FR.UTF-8 export LANGUAGE=en
fontforge

Note: Before you can do this, you will need to import the locale(s) for the languages of interest if you don't have them on your computer already.
There should be some similar instruction for windows console, but I can't test it on this PC since it's running linux. If someone can please chime in, please do. Thanks!