OSX in different languages?

S

slrman

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If I buy an iMac here in Brazil, I assume the OS will be in Portuguese. Can I get an OS in English (my Portuguese is not good) and re-install the OS so I have everything in English? Or is there a way to choose the lamguage when doing the installation?
 
OS X is multi-lingual. You can choose language during installation, and also change it afterwards with no ill side effects.
 
Yes, in fact this is very easy. No need to re-install anything. You will see a language selection screen when you first turn on your new Mac. OS X has installs setup in a large number of languages, and you can choose (through the International pref pane) to change the language used in the menus and applications.

The only difficulty may be the keyboard keys, which may have the type of keyboard layout used in the country where purchased. That may require you to adjust how you type, but usually isn't too challenging.
 
Thanks for the fast replies. This will make a buying decision much easier. I have fuond a pretty good deal (for Brazil) on an iMac here so I will probably place an order.
 
Go ahead and order - the Mac will come with around 20 languages preinstalled, and if you removed any unneeded localizations, with any system update (e.g. from 10.5.5 to 10.5.6) you will again get all the localizations that you removed in the first place.
So even if your Brazilian Portuguese wasn't fluent, and you'd suddenly decide to learn Korean or Polish (or anything else included in the localizations) you can always switch the Mac to those languages after.
(And there are some delocalization applications out there too, so you can get a few GB space for languages you will never use, e.g. with Delocalizer which is freeware).
 
The last tip seems kinda futile, since system updates will re-add the languages anyway. To me, it seems rather uninteresting to remove languages from the standpoint that Apple obviously ignores your choices thereof.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I have ordered the iMax, the 20" 2.6 GHz, Duo Core with 2 GB of RAM and a 320GB HD. This is a pretty high-end system for Brazil so it should serve me for a few years, at least. I'll probably upgrade the Ram to 4 GB fairly soon, and get some fun applications like flight sims and sailing sims. Other than that, I'll mostly use it for some web browsing and email. Being retired, work stuff is no longer an issue. (Yippee!)

For sure, I'll get Firefox and Thunderbird as those are two applications I am accustomed to using.

I was a Mac person for many years and had a Mac and PC side-by-side for years. As a consultant tech writer, I needed both platforms even though I would often sercretly do stuff on the Mac and port it to the PC for the cutomer.

After coming to Brazil, I found Macs were pretty much non-existant here until the last year or so. But now I am back to Mac. (Heaving a sigh of relief)
 
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