Foreign language support is an important part of every operating system. Not only does it make the system more accessible to different cultures, but it also makes it easy for learners to immerse themselves on a new language. In this article, I’ll go through the process of enabling a different language along with a foreign input method in Ubuntu 24.10.
Installing a Foreign Language In Your System
The first step in enabling foreign language input in Ubuntu is to make sure that the language is part of your system’s locale. Doing this allows you to not only type the script itself, but also render programs on your foreign language.
To enable a different language, click the upper right corner of your Ubuntu desktop, then select the Gear icon on the system context menu.
Select System -> Region & Language on the system settings window.
Once done, click the Manage Installed Languages, then select Install / Remove Languages… on the Language Support popup window.
Note: if this is the first time you’re installing a new language, Ubuntu will ask you to install additional language aids. For this, click Install to make sure that you have all the necessary tools to switch locales.
Scroll down the list to find the language that you want to use. Place a check mark at the Installed box.
Click Apply to fetch and install the necessary locale-related files for your foreign language, then click Close on the Language Support window to fully commit your new settings.
Good to know: learn how to enable your on-screen keyboard in Linux today.
Adding a Foreign Input Method
Once your foreign language is a part of your system locale, you can now add its input method to your machine. To do that, click the Keyboard category on the settings window sidebar.
Click Add Input Source underneath the Input Sources category.
This will bring up a small popup window that shows the common input sources for an Ubuntu machine. Click the three dots icon on the bottom of the input selection, then select Other.
Search for the language that you want to include in your keyboard settings, then select it. In my case, I will select Japanese since I want to type in Kana on my machine.
Click Add to include your selected language to the system’s list of input sources, then restart your machine to apply your new settings.
Confirm that your new settings are working properly by clicking the graphical tooltip beside your system tray. Doing this will display a list of available languages on your system, including your input method.
On a side note: looking to upgrade your keyboard game? Check out our buyer’s guide to mechanical keyboards.
Switching Between Different Input Methods
Apart from using the built-in graphical tooltip, you can also use your keyboard to switch between different input methods. This is useful if you’re in the middle of typing a document and you don’t want to move your hands off the keyboard.
To switch to a different input method, press Win + Space. This will bring up a small window similar to a task switcher. You can press the same shortcut multiple times to cycle through the different inputs for your system.
Note: you can also press Win + Shift + Space to cycle backwards through the available input methods in the switcher.
It’s also possible to change the default keybind for switching input methods. Go to the Keyboard category, then click View and Customize Shortcuts.
Inside the popup window, select Typing, click Switch to next input source, then provide your new keybind. For instance, I changed my from Win + Space to Ctrl + Space.
Note: you don’t need to change the keybind for the previous input source command since Ubuntu will automatically adjust it for you.
Changing the Language from the Terminal
On top of using Ubuntu’s GUI, you can also change the default system language through a terminal session. This is helpful if you’re just connecting remotely to your desktop and you can’t use SSH X-forwarding or VNC to access an Xorg session.
To change the system language, open a terminal session then run the following command:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure localesScroll through the available locales for your system, press Space on the ones that you want, then press Enter to enable them.
Select the default locale from the ones that you’ve picked in the previous screen. In my case, I selected “ja_JP.UTF-8” since I wanted to try out Ubuntu with a Japanese UI.
Restart your machine and confirm that the new foreign language is active.
Changing the Input Method from the Terminal
Just like with switching the default language, you can also use the terminal in Ubuntu to switch between alternative keyboard layouts. This is useful if you’re using a headless system, such as Ubuntu Server, which doesn’t come with its own desktop environment.
Note: the following instructions only works on Ubuntu Server. The current build of GNOME on Ubuntu 24.10 doesn’t allow its users to switch the keyboard layout through the command line.
To switch to a different keyboard layout in Ubuntu, run the following command:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configurationSelect the keyboard model for your current physical keyboard. In most cases, selecting Generic 105-key PC should work for all keyboard layouts.
Pick the language that you want to switch your keyboard layout to. For example, selecting German will give you the layout options for German keyboards.
Since I use a regular English QWERTY keyboard, I selected the default German keyboard layout.
Select the default for both the AltGr function and Compose key options, then reboot your machine.
Confirm that your new keyboard is working properly by typing on your terminal prompt.
Learning how to switch your system language and use foreign keyboard layouts is just the first step in understanding how to make Ubuntu Linux work for you. Explore the different variants of Ubuntu by checking out our guide to choosing the right Ubuntu flavor for you.
Image credit: Muhammad Nadhif Fajriananda via Unsplash. All alterations and screenshots by Ramces Red.
