Mac OS X 10.2: About Languages and Input Methods

Mac OS X 10.2 is a multilingual operating system. You may choose one of several languages for application menus and dialogs. In addition to these base languages, it is also possible to read and write text in several other languages.
Languages included

Mac OS X 10.2 can display Finder menus, System Preferences, and file names in the following languages:

You may select and prioritize languages in the System Preferences application. Go to the International pane, and (if necessary) click the Language tab.

Names of certain system-installed items will be translated into the selected language. Your home directory, for example, and its immediate subfolders (such as Music and Documents) appear with localized names when one of the above languages is selected as the preferred language. Folders that are not system installed retain their English names. You may rename user-created folders as desired, but you should not rename folders that were created by the system or by other applications that retain their English names. Examples of folders you should not rename are found at ~/Library and ~/Library/Preferences/.

After clicking the Language tab, you may also find more localization options (Script and Behaviors).

Selecting a keyboard layout or input method

To type text in a given language, you may need to select a keyboard layout or input method for it. Click the Input Menu tab of the International preference pane to locate these options. Keyboards layouts designated as Unicode are only available for Unicode applications such as Mail, TextEdit, or the Finder.

Application awareness, fonts, and language support

Some applications display text in these languages automatically, while others require that you select the text and use a special font for the language. The additional Asian and Western Language fonts are available on the Mac OS X 10.2 Install disc.

In the Finder of Mac OS X 10.2 or later, the Get Info command provides information about an application's language support. In the Info window, click the Languages disclosure triangle to see a list of available languages for the selected application. For help, see technical document 106148, "Mac OS X: About Show Info, Get Info, and the Inspector".

Unicode input methods

Mac OS X 10.2 includes several Unicode input methods:

To select the language you want to use, click the Input Menu tab in the International preference pane, then select the checkbox next to the language. When more than one language is selected, the Input menu appears in the menu bar to the right of the Help menu. The Input menu is represented by a flag or other symbol that is associated with the selected language or input method. This menu allows you to quickly switch between active languages.

If the application does not support Unicode input, the languages are dimmed in the Input menu.

The Character Palette, also available from the Input menu, is a floating window utility to help you input difficult-to-remember or difficult-to-reproduce characters.
Published Date: Feb 17, 2012