Language

The choice of languages is a feature that was introduced in and officially released in. The language menu is accessible via a new button in the main menu to the left of the options button, and from the options menu.

Previously, language packs were needed in order to change the in game language. Language packs are obsolete, due to the official implementation of other languages.

Each language also has a font, although some languages share.

History
Here is a table that summarizes the modifications of languages through the updates:

Available languages
As of version 1.5.1, there are 62 languages, which are, in the order they appear in the menu:

Upcoming languages
Upcoming and still-in-progress translations are listed on the official Minecraft translation project page

Bugs and inaccuracies

 * The "Ouch. That looked like it hurt" message (shows when the /kill command is used) does not appear to ever translate.
 * The "This server recommends the use of a custom texture pack. Would you like to download and install it automatically?" message (shows when the server has a recommended texture pack) says in the language file "automagically"
 * Some languages use Unicode fonts when they should not (example: Spanish doesn't, but French does, even though the standard font contains all French characters).
 * Written Arabic uses connected letters, but the letters do not connect (e.g. "اللغة العربية" is written like "ا ل ل غ ة ا ل ع ر ب ي ة") in the translations.
 * In some languages, the text is too long and overflows the button it is written on.
 * Splash texts are not translated and therefore always show up in English.
 * The option for Hebrew reads "אנגלית" (English). It should be "עברית" (Hebrew).
 * Minecraft ' s language option is only for displaying. In some languages (such as Chinese, Japanese and so on) players cannot input text in their languages. This is because Minecraft doesn't support Input method. Such users still use Mods which supports it.
 * Some in-game messages are not translated to any languages.

Trivia

 * Minecraft is available in three constructed languages: Esperanto (devised as an international language and spoken fluently by around 100,000 people worldwide), Klingon (an alien language from Star Trek devised by linguist Marc Okrand), and Quenya (one of the Elvish languages devised by J.R.R. Tolkien). It is also available in the joke "language" of Pirate Speak, which is English written in the way a stereotypical pirate talks. Australian English also pokes fun and humorous stereotypes such as naming furnaces "Barbies", slang for barbeques, calling creepers "Bunyips" or calling a Minecart a 'Holden', Holden being General Motor's marque for cars sold in Australia.
 * It is possible to add a custom language pack by modifying the minecraft.jar file, or, as of 13w16a, copying it to the assets/lang folder.