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.
History
Here is a table that summarizes the modifications of languages through the updates :
| Version | Added | Removed | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11w49a | 36 | - | 36 |
| 12w01a | 18 | 4 | 50 |
| 1.1 | 6 | - | 56 |
Available languages
As of version 1.1, there are 56 languages, which are, in the order they appear in in the menu :
| # | Name | Language | Official language in | Added in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Afrikaans | Afrikaans | South Africa | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 2 | اللغة العربية | Arabic | North Africa + Near and Middle East | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 3 | Български | Bulgarian | Bulgaria | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 4 | Català | Catalan | Andorra & Catalonia | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 5 | Čeština | Czech | Czech Republic | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 6 | Cymraeg | Welsh | Wales | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 7 | Dansk | Danish | Denmark, Faroe Islands, Greenland. | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 8 | Deutsch | German | Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Belgium. | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 9 | Ελληνικά | Greek | Greece, Cyprus. | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 10 | English (UK) | British English | Great Britain, Australia, India, Singapore, Ireland... | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 11 | English (Ca) | Canadian English | Canada | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 12 | Pirate Speak | Pirate English | None (Web language) | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 13 | English (US) | American English | USA | Pre 0.0.0 |
| 14 | Esperanto (Mondo) | Esperanto | Constructed language (International) | 1.2 |
| 15 | Español (Ar) | Argentinian Spanish | Argentina | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 16 | Español (Es) | Spanish | Spain | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 17 | Español (Me) | Mexican Spanish | Mexico | 1.1 |
| 18 | Español (Ur) | Uruguayan Spanish | Uruguay | 1.1 |
| 19 | Español (Ve) | Venezuelan Spanish | Venezuela | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 20 | Eesti | Estonian | Estonia | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 21 | Euskara | Basque | France and Spain (Basque Country) | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 22 | Suomi | Finnish | Finland | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 23 | Français (Ca) | Canadian French | Canada | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 24 | Français (Fr) | French | France, Belgium, Monaco, Switzerland, .... | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 25 | Galego | Galician | Galicia (Spain) | 1.1 |
| 26 | עברית | Hebrew | Israel | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 27 | Hrvatski | Croatian | Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 28 | български | Bulgarian | Bulgaria | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 29 | Íslenska | Icelandic | Iceland | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 30 | Italiano | Italian | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City State. | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 31 | 日本語 | Japanese | Japan | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 32 | ქართული | Georgian | Georgia | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 33 | 한국어 | Korean | South Korea North Korea | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 34 | हिन्दी | Hindi | India | 1.1 |
| 35 | Lietuvių | Lithuanian | Lithuania | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 36 | Latviešu | Latvian | Latvia | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 37 | Bahasa Melayu | Malay | Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 38 | Norsk Bokmål | Norwegian | Norway | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 39 | Nederlands | Dutch | The Netherlands, Belgium, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Suriname. | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 40 | Norsk Nynorsk | Norwegian | Norway | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 41 | Polski | Polish | Poland | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 42 | Português (Br) | Brazilian Portuguese | Brazil | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 43 | Portuguese (Po) | Portuguese | Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, .... | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 44 | Quenya | Quenya (High Elvish) | Constructed language (Lord of the Rings : Valinor, Lindon and Rivendell) | 1.1 |
| 45 | Română | Romanian | Romania, Moldova | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 46 | Pусский | Russian | Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, .... | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 47 | Slovenčina | Slovak | Slovakia | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 48 | Slovenščina | Slovenian | Slovenia | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 49 | Српски | Serbian | Serbia (Kosovo), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republic of Srpska), Montenegro. | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 50 | Svenska | Swedish | Sweden, Finland. | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 51 | ภาษาไทย | Thai | Thailand | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 52 | tlhIngan Hol | Klingon | The Klingon Empire | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 53 | Türkçe | Turkish | Turkey | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 54 | Українська | Ukrainian | Ukraine, Transnistria. | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 55 | Tiếng Việt | Vietnamese | Vietnam | 1.1 |
| 56 | 简体中文 | Chinese (Simplified) | China, Singapore | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 57 | 繁體中文 | Chinese (Traditional) | Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau. | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 58 | Magyar | Hungarian | Hungary | 1.2 |
| 59 | Malti | Maltese | Malta | 1.2 |
Upcoming languages
This is a list of all the upcoming languages that are listed on the official Minecraft translation project page :
- English (Australian English)
- Indonesian
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Sindarin
Removed languages
| Name | Language | Official language in | Added in | Removed in | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deutsch (Ös) | Austrian German | Austria | 11w49a (1.1.0) | 12w01a (1.1.0) | Unknown (probably because Austrian German mostly equals standard German) |
| Español (La) | Latino-American Spanish | South America | 11w49a (1.1.0) | 12w01a (1.1.0) | Replaced by Argentinian, Venezuelan and Uruguayan Spanish translations. |
Bugs & Inaccuracy
- 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).
- Arabic is written with 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
- If you choose Spanish (MX), clicking Options → Controls will crash the game. You must delete your options.txt or else the crashing will continue.
- The option for Greek reads Αγγλικά (GR), which means English (Greece). It should say ελληνικά (EL), which means Greek (Greece). This is fixed in 1.3.
- In some languages, the text is too long and overflows the button it is written on.
- Splash texts are not translated and therefore will 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).
- In 12w05b when saving the world the English "saving chunks" message is shown (tested Chinese "both versions" and in Vietnamese).
- After changing the language setting to Korean, and changing back to English, 'A.M.' and 'P.M.' remain in Korean on the Select World screen, even after restarting Minecraft.
Trivia
- Minecraft is available in four constructed languages : Klingon (Klingon language from Star Trek), Esperanto (devised as an international language), Quenya (Elvish language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien ) and Pirate Speak (English written in Pirate slang).
References
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