Language Setting

[AmyGilhespy]

Description of the new feature / enhancement

Please add a way to choose the language used by PowerToys itself. I have to have other languages installed on Windows for my work, and it's easiest if I make Japanese the default language in Windows so I can quickly switch the input method, but that doesn't mean I want to use PowerToys in Japanese and, unless I missed it, there's no way to override the automatic language detection in PowerToys.

Scenario when this would be used?

It's best for my workflow if I have the Japanese IME set to my default in Windows, but I prefer to use apps in English, and PowerToys doesn't let you specify a language, it just uses the default language set in Windows.

Supporting information

The Japanese PowerToys localization is also terrible, but that's a separate issue that others have already reported.

[BalassaMarton]

What's incredibly annoying is that PowerToys somehow infers the langauge from keyboard settings, not even OS language. I set English as UI language everywhere for a reason, because the translations to my native language are usually terrible.

[X1aomu]

What's incredibly annoying is that PowerToys somehow infers the langauge from keyboard settings, not even OS language. I set English as UI language everywhere for a reason, because the translations to my native language are usually terrible.

Thanks for mentioning that.

Go to setting [Time & language] > [Language & region] on Windows 11. Then change the [Preferred language] order. I put English (i preffered) on the top and finally PowerToys runs in English.

[AmyGilhespy]

I'm on Windows 10, and my language settings look like this:

The Japanese IME has a mode that lets you type in English anyway, so there's no reason to also have an English keyboard installed. Having two keyboards installed shows a "language bar" and reveals an additional extra button in the taskbar that clutters up the UI. Therefore, since I have to type both English and Japanese regularly for work but don't want a cluttered task bar, it's better for me to have only the Japanese IME installed and just use the English input feature of that IME to type English than to have both keyboards installed, even though I barely speak Japanese. This is a Windows problem that will probably never be resolved. I am not asking to fix this, but I'm explaining why it's not always practical to put English at the top of your keyboard settings.

Just because I use a Japanese IME as my only keyboard on Windows, that doesn't mean I want everything on my screen in all applications to be this horrible broken Google Translate Japanese all the time. I barely speak any correct Japanese, let alone a low quality machine translation where less than 50% of the words on the screen even use Japanese characters at all for some reason.

This is why I want a language setting in PowerToys, so that I can use my preferred language (English) which has no translation errors in such an important tool on my computer, without having to install an English keyboard as that would clutter the task bar and needlessly require extra disk space for something (typing in English) that I can already do in the English entry mode of the Japanese IME I use all the time anyway.

Again, this is fundamentally a Windows issue that will likely never be resolved, but PowerToys could easily provide a solution by adding a manual language setting.

Thanks, Amy

P.S. Look, PowerToys is barely translated to Japanese anyway. This is in Japanese. Notice how most of it is English anyway. Japanese is not a supported language in PowerToys, please don't force it on me.

[AmyGilhespy]

One additional nitpick about those screenshots at the end: Some of the "Japanese translations" like "ホスト ファイル エヂィター" and "マウス ユーティリティ" are English anyway, even though they look Japanese. This is hard to explain to someone who may have no Japanese language experience, but "ホスト ファイル エヂィター" is pronounced "hosto file edita" which is the English phrase "Host File Editor" written in Japanese characters. It is not using Japanese words, but English words written in Japanese phonics. This isn't a bad translation for this, but my point is it's technically English anyway. "マウス ユーティリティ" is pronounced "mousu utility" and is also an English phrase written in Japanese kana. There's probably a better translation for this one but again that's not my point. My point is that many of the phrases that actually have a Japanese "translation" are just English anyway, it's cheating!

[X1aomu]

To people interested.

I finally get my default IME stick to a CJK one and make PowerToys stay in English.

There are two settings. One is for preffered language while another is for preffered input method.

This is a way for Windows11. Hope someone could find the same way on Windows10 also.

1. In [Time & language] > [Language & region], make sure one kinds of "English" is on the top of list of [Preferred language]. (Thats what i post before. https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/24485#issuecomment-1463076211)
2. In [Time & language] > [Typing] > [Advanced keyboard settings] > [Override for default input method], select the preferred IME.

[crutkas]

/dup #7670

[microsoft-github-policy-service[bot]]

Hi! We've identified this issue as a duplicate of another one that already exists on this Issue Tracker. This specific instance is being closed in favor of tracking the concern over on the referenced thread. Thanks for your report!