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.
Each language also has a font, although some languages share.[1]
History
Here is a table that summarizes the modifications of languages through the updates:
| Version | Added | Removed | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release | Snapshot | |||
| 1.1 | 11w49a | 35 | - | 36 |
| 12w01a | 17 | 3 | 50 | |
| (1.1 release) | 6 | - | 56 | |
| 1.2 | 12w05a | 1 | - | 57 |
| 12w07a | 1 | - | 58 | |
| 1.3.1 | 12w21b | 3 | - | 61 |
| 1.5 | 13w02a | 2 | 1 | 62 |
Available languages
As of version 1.5.1, there are 62 languages, which are, in the order they appear 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 | 11w49a (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 | Australian English | Australian English | Australia | 12w21b (1.3.1) |
| 11 | Canadian English | Canadian English | Canada | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 12 | English (UK) | British English | Great Britain, Australia, India, Singapore, Ireland... | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 13 | Pirate Speak | Pirate English | None (Web language) | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 14 | English (US) | American English | USA | Pre 0.0.0 |
| 15 | Esperanto (Mondo) | Esperanto | Constructed language (International) | 12w05a (1.2) |
| 16 | Español (Ar) | Argentinian Spanish | Argentina | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 17 | Español (Es) | Spanish | Spain | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 18 | Español (Me) | Mexican Spanish | Mexico | 1.1 |
| 19 | Español (Ur) | Uruguayan Spanish | Uruguay | 1.1 |
| 20 | Español (Ve) | Venezuelan Spanish | Venezuela | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 21 | Eesti | Estonian | Estonia | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 22 | Euskara | Basque | France and Spain (Basque Country) | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 23 | Suomi | Finnish | Finland | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 24 | Français (Fr) | French | France, Belgium, Monaco, Switzerland, .... | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 25 | Français (Ca) | Canadian French | Canada | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 26 | Gaeilge | Irish | Ireland | 12w21b (1.3.1) |
| 27 | Galego | Galician | Galicia (Spain) | 1.1 |
| 28 | עברית | Hebrew | Israel | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 29 | हिन्दी | Hindi | India | 1.1 |
| 30 | Hrvatski | Croatian | Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 31 | Magyar | Hungarian | Hungary | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 32 | Bahasa Indonesia | Indonesian | Indonesia | 12w21b (1.3.1) |
| 33 | Íslenska | Icelandic | Iceland | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 34 | Italiano | Italian | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City State. | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 35 | 日本語 | Japanese | Japan | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 36 | ქართული | Georgian | Georgia | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 37 | 한국어 | Korean | South Korea North Korea | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 38 | Kernowek | Cornwall | Cornwall | 13w02a (1.5) |
| 39 | Lietuvių | Lithuanian | Lithuania | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 40 | Latviešu | Latvian | Latvia | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 41 | Bahasa Melayu | Malay | Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 42 | Malti | Maltese | Malta | 12w07a (1.2)[note 1] |
| 43 | Nederlands | Dutch | The Netherlands, Belgium, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Suriname. | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 44 | Norsk | Norwegian | Norway | 11w49a (1.1)[2] |
| 45 | Norsk Nynorsk | Norwegian | Norway | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 46 | Polski | Polish | Poland | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 47 | Português (Br) | Brazilian Portuguese | Brazil | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 48 | Portuguese (Po) | Portuguese | Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, .... | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 49 | Quenya | Quenya (High Elvish) | Constructed language (Lord of the Rings: Valinor, Lindon and Rivendell) | 1.1 |
| 50 | Română | Romanian | Romania, Moldova | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 51 | Pусский | Russian | Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, .... | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 52 | Slovenčina | Slovak | Slovakia | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 53 | Slovenščina | Slovenian | Slovenia | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 54 | Српски | Serbian | Serbia (Kosovo), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro. | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 55 | Svenska | Swedish | Sweden, Finland. | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 56 | ภาษาไทย | Thai | Thailand | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 57 | tlhIngan Hol | Klingon | Constructed language (Star Trek: the Klingon Empire) | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 58 | Türkçe | Turkish | Turkey | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 59 | Українська | Ukrainian | Ukraine, Transnistria. | 12w01a (1.1) |
| 60 | Tiếng Việt | Vietnamese | Vietnam | 1.1 |
| 61 | 简体中文 | Chinese (Simplified) | China, Singapore | 11w49a (1.1) |
| 62 | 繁體中文 | Chinese (Traditional) | Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau. | 12w01a (1.1) |
- ↑ Maltese added in 11w49a but removed in 12w01a. It's re-added in 12w07a.
Upcoming languages
Upcoming and still-in-progress translations are listed on the official Minecraft translation project page
Removed languages
| Name | Language | Official language in | Added in | Removed in | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deutsch (Ös) | Austrian German | Austria | 11w49a (1.1) | 12w01a (1.1) | Unknown (probably because Austrian German mostly equals standard German) |
| Español (La) | Latino-American Spanish | South America | 11w49a (1.1) | 12w01a (1.1) | Replaced by Mexican, Venezuelan, and Uruguayan Spanish translations. |
| Norsk Bokmål | Norwegian | Norway | 11w49a (1.1) | 13w02a (1.5) | Added 'Norsk' (no_NO) instead. |
Bugs and inaccuracies
- The "Ouch. That looked like it hurt" message (shows when the /kill command is used) does not appear to ever translate.
- 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.[3]
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.
References
- ↑ Chinese, Japanese, and Korean shares the use of Han characters. See wikipedia:CJK Unified Ideographs.
- ↑ File 'no_NO.lang' is found in 11w49a, but it's not selectable from language menu. no_NO is added to language menu in 13w02a.
- ↑ 5002