Language

The choice of languages is a feature that was introduced in weekly snapshot 11w49a and officially released in Minecraft 1.1. 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. If you wish to use language packs on 1.0.0 and earlier, Visit this link on the Minecraft Forums for a comprehensive language packs guide.

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 1.4.7, there are 61 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 Snooper Settings page and the button leading to it does not appear to ever translate.
 * The same goes for the "Ouch. That look like it hurt" message, that shows when you /kill something.
 * 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.
 * Choosing "Spanish (MX)" and clicking Options → Controls will crash the game. You must delete your options.txt or else the crashing will continue.
 * Prior to 1.3, the option for Greek read "Αγγλικά (GR)", which means English (Greece), instead of "ελληνικά (EL)", which means Greek (Greece).
 * 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.
 * British English and Canadian English use each other's language code (i.e., Name = Canadian English, Language code = en_GB and vice versa).
 * The option for Hebrew reads "אנגלית" (English). It should be "עברית" (Hebrew).
 * When Minecraft 1.1 first came out, the translations were made by normal players. One person took advantage of this and while translating the game into Afrikaans, he changed the Singleplayer button to read "You Are A N****R." This was removed quickly from the game by Mojang.
 * After changing to Korean and back to English, "A.M." and "P.M." remain in Korean on the Select World screen, even after restarting Minecraft.
 * 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.
 * In 1.4.6, some in-game messages are not translated to any languages.
 * In pirate language, any leaves are called leaves o' oak.

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, or calling a Minecart a 'Holden', Holden being General Motor's marque for cars sold in Australia.