Spotlight showing simplified chinese results in dictionary

Question

Spotlight showing simplified chinese results in dictionary

Reposting here, since i apparently posted the question the wrong place a few days ago.

Title says it all really. Whenever i look up definitions in the spotlight dictionary, there's a 75% chance i'll get results in simplified chinese (and a 5% chance i'll get the results in spanish instead).

Switching my input from Danish to English does seem to fix the problem, but then again i really don't want to (i rather like having my æ, ø and å being readily available).

It starting to be quite the problem, since i used to frequently look up words in spotlight whenever reading a text that required looking up.

I've tried validating the fonts, i've deleted every language i didn't use, i've followed any and all suggestion found here, besides deleting the dictionaries - and that's only because i can't find the dictionary-files anywhere.

Any help would be much appreciated.

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Jun 1, 2016 3:02 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 1, 2016 4:14 AM in response to flamingbaconeagle

When you say "Switching my input", I suppose you mean the keyboard layout. I can't think *that* would affect the results of a spotlight search.

What are you settings in System Preferences->Language and Region?

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Answer 2

Jun 1, 2016 5:08 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Ah. Yes. That is what i meant.

Strange as it might sound, it does in fact help! Just checked again to verify. Language and region are both set to Danish/Denmark. I had also enabled Greek, Latin and English, but removing them solves nothing either.

I wonder if there's a way to convince my computer i have an english keyboard-layout, but for all intents and purposes have a Danish...

Edit: First picture is a search with Danish layout, second is with an English.

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Answer 3

Jun 1, 2016 5:45 AM in response to flamingbaconeagle

What languages, and in what order, do you have selected in System Preferences->Language & Region?

If it is not like that already, try putting Danish first and English second, and remove Chinese if it shows in the list:

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Answer 4

Jun 1, 2016 6:10 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Tried, didn't help. Even tried switching to english, and then switching all the individual settings back to Danish (so there'd be no obvious difference).

Only fix so far is, as stated, to switch keyboard input.

- I even went as far as preparing my disk/permissions, figuring there might be something wrong in there. Which there wasn't.

The interesting thing is, i'm not the first one who has this problem, and the other thread i can find is also started by a Dane: Spotlight dictionary is now american-chinese

Could point to the problem being one specifically with the Danish language-input-option.

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Answer 5

Jun 1, 2016 6:24 AM in response to flamingbaconeagle

Could point to the problem being one specifically with the Danish language-input-option.

Yes, it could, but you can try this: create another user account, log in to that account, test. If it works correctly there, then we'll know it is not a system or localization problem, but specific to your user account.

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Answer 6

Jun 1, 2016 6:48 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Interestingly that also solved the problem! Well then.. The issue must lie within my account. Well then: Any ideas how to fix? Possibly create a new account, move everything to it, and make it the new Admin?

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Answer 7

Jun 1, 2016 3:11 PM in response to flamingbaconeagle

If you move everything, you are likely to make the problem appear again.

Instead, try running Etrecheck and posting its report. Often this suggests a login item, or other application that may be old, incompatible or just looks out of place.

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Answer 8

Jun 1, 2016 7:13 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

A-yup: One piece of etrecheck report coming up:

EtreCheck version: 2.9.12 (265)

Report generated 2016-06-01 16:11:39

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 1:56

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Other problem

Description:

Spotlight showing simplified chinese!

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir6,2

1 1,3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 540

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 5000

Color LCD 1440 x 900

System Software: ⓘ

OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 (15F34) - Time since boot: about one day

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD SM0128F disk0 : (121,33 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 120.10 GB (21.47 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 120.47 GB Online

USB Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Anywhere

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Library/Application Support/VirtualBox

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (4.3.28 - 2016-03-25) [Support]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (4.3.28 - 2016-03-25) [Support]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (4.3.28 - 2016-03-25) [Support]

[loaded] org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (4.3.28 - 2016-03-25) [Support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.nvidia.CUDA (1.1.0 - 2016-05-30) [Support]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks

[loaded] 153 Apple tasks

[running] 57 Apple tasks

[killed] 21 Apple tasks

21 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 43 Apple tasks

[loaded] 148 Apple tasks

[running] 73 Apple tasks

[killed] 27 Apple tasks

27 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-04-12) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (2016-04-07) [Support]

[loaded] com.divx.dms.agent.plist (2016-03-10) [Support]

[loaded] com.divx.update.agent.plist (2016-03-01) [Support]

[loaded] com.gog.galaxy.commservice.plist (2016-05-22) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-04-09) [Support]

[loaded] com.nvidia.CUDASoftwareUpdate.plist (2016-05-30) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2013-08-20) [Support]

[running] jp.co.canon.CUPSCAPT.BG.plist (2013-10-08) [Support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist (2015-10-16) [Support]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.bstservice_helper.plist (2016-03-24) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (2016-04-12) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (2016-04-12) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-05-10) [Support]

[loaded] com.github.IngmarStein.Monolingual.Helper.plist (2016-01-17) [Support]

[loaded] com.gog.galaxy.clientservice.plist (2016-05-22) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2016-04-09) [Support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Agent.plist (2016-01-17) [Support]

[loaded] com.nvidia.cuda.launcher.plist (2016-05-11) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2013-08-20) [Support]

[not loaded] org.eyebeam.SelfControl.plist (2016-05-31) [Support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist (2015-10-16) [Support]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist (2016-03-25) [Support]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-04-26) [Support]

[failed] com.logos.LogosIndexer.plist (2014-03-31) [Support]

[failed] com.plexapp.helper.plist (2013-10-21) [Support]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (2016-05-22) [Support]

[not loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist (2016-03-25) [Support]

[running] org.xbmc.helper.plist (2015-10-25) [Support]

User Login Items: ⓘ

GalaxyClient Program (/Applications/GalaxyClient.app)

Flux Program (/Applications/Flux.app)

iTunesHelper Program (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

MacGameStore Helper Program (~/Library/Application Support/MacGameStore.com/Helper/MacGameStore Helper.app)

Other Apps: ⓘ

[running] com.adobe.CCLibrary.110432

[running] com.adobe.CCXProcess.117792

[running] com.adobe.acc.AdobeDesktopService.267232.9816FD31-B1DE-4EB1-9653-7B6000986632

[running] com.adobe.accmac.109152

[running] com.etresoft.EtreCheck.164512

[running] com.macgamestore.helper.95072

[running] org.herf.Flux.130912

[loaded] 411 Apple tasks

[running] 165 Apple tasks

[killed] 60 Apple tasks

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

OVSHelper: 1.1 (2016-03-31) [Support]

Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-05-30)

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 3.2.0.16 - SDK 10.8 (2013-09-08) [Support]

Google Earth Web Plug-in: 7.1 (2016-04-05) [Support]

Unity Web Player: UnityPlayer version 5.0.3f2 - SDK 10.6 (2015-10-11) [Support]

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 (2016-04-12) [Support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.242 - SDK 10.6 (2016-05-13) [Support]

DivX Web Player: 3.5.5.3 - SDK 10.10 (2016-03-29) [Support]

Silverlight: 5.1.20913.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-01-17) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-05-30)

Flash Player: 21.0.0.242 - SDK 10.6 (2016-05-13) [Support]

PepperFlashPlayer: 21.0.0.242 - SDK 10.6 (2016-05-14) [Support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 77 build 03 (2016-04-11) Check version

User internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

BlueStacks Install Detector: Unknown

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (2016-05-31)

Ghostery - GHOSTERY, Inc. - https://www.ghostery.com/ (2016-03-12)

TinEye - TinEye - https://tineye.com (2016-05-31)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

CUDA Preferences (2016-05-11) [Support]

Flash Player (2016-05-10) [Support]

Flip4Mac WMV (2013-03-29) [Support]

Java (2016-04-11) [Support]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 120.10 GB Disk used: 98.63 GB

Destinations:

OSX [Local]

Total size: 0 B

Total number of backups: 0

Oldest backup: -

Last backup: -

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 0 B < (Disk used 98.63 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

61% Spotlight(2)

58% mds_stores

27% WindowServer

26% mds

22% kernel_task

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

649 MB kernel_task

492 MB mdworker(29)

360 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(7)

184 MB Safari

106 MB Spotlight(2)

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

29 MB Free RAM

3.97 GB Used RAM (510 MB Cached)

283 MB Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

May 30, 2016, 11:48:40 PM Self test - passed

Spotlight flared up during the test, possibly because i used it.

Reply

Answer 9

Jun 1, 2016 3:11 PM in response to flamingbaconeagle

Oh well... the usual, I guess.

Never user "Cleaners" of any sort. You have "Clean My Mac", plus you also have "Monolingual".

These programs claim to delete "unnecessary" files in order to reclaim space. This does not usually end well.

I could tell you to uninstall or remove those programs, but there is no way to tell which files they have already removed, and which among them they should not have.

Incidentally, as the red ink should make readily apparent, you have way too many programs trying to run for the 4GB you have. Since your mac's memory cannot be upgraded, you should take a good look at all these kext, launch agents and login items to see which ones you really need all the time.

Here is my suggestion:

-First of all, make sure you have a full bootable backup. You can use SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to make a perfect clone of your internal drive on an external. Make sure your machine boots from the external before you erase anything. This way if anything goes wrong you can always clone the backup drive back to your internal.

-Next, do a clean install of the OS.

-Use Migration Assistant to bring back the user account(s) and settings. Don't bring back applications, as those can be installed fresh.

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Answer 10

Jun 1, 2016 8:12 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Well that's a surprise: To my knowledge i've never installed Clean My Mac! - I'm not entirely rookie when it comes to computers 😉

Monolingual is a tool i used on my old computer, with great success. Downloaded it again, interestingly, in an attempt to solve this very problem. Used it to delete some variants of chinese from my computer.

Anyway: I've deleted anything i could find, even going so far as to go into application support and deleting folders for apps which i probably will never use again. I do have a time machine backup, or at the very least the possibility of making one.. Might have to try that. - Though this is a problem that came up more or less the same day i installed El Capitan from App store.

*******

Edit: Well isn't this interesting. It would appear that selecting, in dictionary, every dictionary BUT the ones i want, solves the problem. Might have to test this out for a bit.

*******

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Answer 11

Jun 1, 2016 3:18 PM in response to flamingbaconeagle

Just double-checked. It appears it actually works now.

For the record, my fix was to "reverse" the order of the dictionaries. That is: To uncheck the ones i wanted to use, to check the ones which i didn't want to use.

Thanks for your help Luis. Much appreciated!

Edit: It seems to me to be highly self-indulgent to mark my own answer as the correct one in order to close the thread, so if the mods want, they may go ahead and lock this topic now.

Yet another edit: Oh well. It appears i did anyway.

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