iMac got switched to Russian language

Question

iMac got switched to Russian language

I have a friend across the country, 85 yrs old and she accidentally switched the language on her Mac (running Leopard) to Russian. I tried to change it back to English in the International System Preferences over iChat Desktop Sharing but we could not highlight English. Nothing would highlight. It was as if it were locked. I had her Repair Permissions, reboot with Shift key and eventually do an Archive and Install of Leopard with English as the language. She told me this morning that there is still some Russian here and there. She said under the Apple menu everything is still in Russian. When she popped a DVD in to watch a movie, the DVD Player messages were in Russian. I am hoping that when I get a chance to share her desktop I can go into the International system preferences and this time it will let me change to English. But I don't understand how come it wouldn't let me do that before and I am worried I may still not be able to do it.

My questions are: Why couldn't we switch to English in the n preferences?

and how come doing an Archive and Reinstall of Leopard didn't completely fix this?

MacPro Quad-Core 2.66GHz, 3GB RAM, 3 internal SATA drives, Mac OS X (10.6.3), Airport Extreme, 30MB cable internet

Posted on Sep 29, 2010 7:04 AM

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Answer 1

roam

Level 6

13,637 points

Sep 29, 2010 8:10 AM in response to Linda Cameron

Originally when it was all in Russian, the English was at the top of the list in the International system preferences but nothing would highlight.

That is unexpected and because it is unexpected then prediction is imprecise.
I don't know why your elderly friend's computer is misbehaving the way it is.

As to the preference file, there is a general one;
~/Library/Preferences/ com.apple.systempreferences.plist

After you trash it, log out and back in again to renew it.

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Answer 2

roam

Level 6

13,637 points

Sep 29, 2010 7:33 AM in response to Linda Cameron

Hi Linda

Why couldn't we switch to English in the preferences?

It depends what she did exactly to change it in the first place, and we don't know.

In System preferences, International, Languages tab have English at the top and in the Input Menu tab, have no other keyboards selected below the line.

how come doing an Archive and Reinstall of Leopard didn't completely fix this?

Because the archive and install has just reinstalled the system files (the install part) and left her preferences (in Russian) in tact (The archive part). So the Archive component preserved some of her previous settings.

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Answer 3

Sep 29, 2010 7:46 AM in response to roam

Originally when it was all in Russian, the English was at the top of the list in the International system preferences but nothing would highlight. The keyboard also had the US Flag as the default.

When I share her desktop over iChat later today, what preference files can I get rid of that might help this problem?

Thanks.

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Answer 4

Sep 29, 2010 9:56 AM in response to roam

The problem is solved. She was able to click back to English in the International System Preferences this time--having done an Archive and Install of the system software first. Don't know why she couldn't do that before, but maybe it was time to reinstall the system.

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