How can I get Pages to Use British English Instead of American English?

"... 4 most ppl, this 1 only should now appear in the list once u've clicked okay...."


"... Enjoy British English (the "original & best") forever!!"


And the language you use is...??

I'm not usually sarcastic or pick up spelling on fora, but I don't like 'textspeak'.

To use numbers for words, hard to read contractions and just plain missing out letters is lazy in my opinion. To then add the rider above... "enjoy British English..." is just ludicrous.

hi bart 🙂

know what you mean about the British / Australian spelling vs. the American spelling. that is a way around it for most things.

i'm using Dictionary 1.0.1, so think you probably do as well. Dictionary > Preferences > Pronunciation > British English. make sure you have marked New Oxford Dictionary & Oxford American Writers Thesaurus. that should solve the problem for the spelling at least with the dictionary.

not sure if you know how to set OS to use different languages for the key board.

system preference > international > language > edit list.

you can force the system to use almost anything depending on what is on your language list and the order it's listed. that changed a number of things internally. from spelling, to the keyboard .... etc.

somthing else you can do it click the Flag that's in your top banner. all american mac's come with the u.s. flag there already. click the flag and then click international at the bottom. it leads you to a list of flag icons and you pick the ones you want and the top one is the one that's always used.

i'm set to the aussie flag because there are some things even the aussies do differently than the brits. or for you check to irish flag.

the great and easy thing about mac is that it can change at the drop of a hat. unlike windows anything. i switch between british or american english, french, german and japanese in nothing flat.

you can go in and change you clock on the banner to show dates the right way to. meaning it's Date, Day, Month & Year .... the "right" way, LOL and not the Yank way of month, day & year.

hope that helps. if you need more get back to me.

mike

For new documents, Pages uses the language that's set in System Preferences > International > Language.

Drag "British English" to the top of the list of languages to make it the primary language.

If "British English" isn't in the list, first click the Edit List… button and check it there.

Hi Bart

When u install OS X, the British keyboard gets installed, but the system is still American language. Here's how 2 sort it.

1. Go to System Prefs, International.
2. Go 2 the language tab (I think. sorry currently on the dark side). anyway, there's a long list of languages in the correct tab.
3. Click the Edit button, and deselect all the languages u don't want (incl. "English", which is the dreaded American), MAKING SURE u have the British English selected. 4 most ppl, this 1 only should now appear in the list once u've clicked okay.
4. Log out of OS X (only nec. is u want the Finder to be British.
5. Restart all apps, incl. Pages.
6. Voila! Page will ALWAYS show British English in the spelling . NONE of those workarounds are at all necessary.

Enjoy British English (the "original & best") forever!!

The language I use is British English, not American.

You're v wrong, and arrogant, aren't you? I am tired of computer companies assuming that we all use American English. This business of the International panel showing "English" (i.e. American English) is pretty galling, and is Apple's fault. This shouldn't happen with a copy of iWork bought in the UK.

Get over yourself, justgetoutandride. (whoever u r - no country mentioned, of course). and if "textspeak" offends u - don't read it!

justgetoutand ... get a life?

"The language I use is British English, not American.

You're v wrong, and arrogant, aren't you? "

Are you talking to me? I don't consider myself arrogant, and I was making no comment on language used, dictionaries or keyboard layout. I just don't like text speak on forums. I would say 99% of the time the writer has a full keyboard in front of them so doesn't need to use contractions. In which case text speak is just lazyness.


"Get over yourself, justgetoutandride. (whoever u r - no country mentioned, of course). and if "textspeak" offends u - don't read it!"

Well now you are talking to me, however I don't recall upsetting or offending you in any way. And what has my country got to do with anything, you think I'm afraid to state where I live for fear of other forum users not liking what I write? My country is of no consequence to this argument.

If text speakers on the fora marked their posts in such a way that readers knew what to expect before reading, then I would indeed not read their posts.

As it was I was expressing my opinion, I find text speak irritating and unnecessary on computer fora, but that is my opinion and it's not being forced on anyone. Nor am I insulting anyone. I merely stated that someone claiming to love the British language and then using text speak is 'ludicrous'.

I did not attack or insult anyone, not even you, so I don't understand where your anger at me is coming from


"justgetoutand ... get a life?"

I already have several and have no time for another one, but thanks anyway.

Hi Bart,

You can also set language in Pages using the Text inspector. Select the "More" tab and you will see a Language drop down. You can set this to "British English".

Well stated, justgetoutandride.