Samsung Galaxy S5 Guide

How to change Galaxy S5 language?

You can choose Galaxy S5 language

In most regions, the default language for Galaxy S5 is English. For some reasons, you may want to use other languages, for example, your mother tongue, or the language you are studying.

As Galaxy S5 is being sold in more than 150 countries/regions, very likely, you can find the language you want to use in your region, and change Galaxy S5 language as you want.  Of course, not all languages are available in your Galaxy S5 (please read on).

How to change Galaxy S5 language?

To change Galaxy S5 language, you simply go to Settings–Language and input (under system category). Tap language as shown below:

change_galaxy_s5_language

You can then choose one of the available languages for your model (usually for your region).

Once a new language is selected, Galaxy S5 will use this language everywhere  in the user interface, e.g., menu and help.

How about apps after changing Galaxy S5 language?

After you change Galaxy S5 language, almost all pre-installed apps change the language accordingly. A lot of third-party apps you installed from Play store may also use this language as well.

But you will notice some apps are still using English. The reason can be one of these two:

If the apps (from Play store) support this language, the language will be used automatically after you change Galaxy S5 language.  You cannot disable this at this time. For example, if you change the system language to Spanish, and you want to use English menu for Google Play store, you will find it is impossible.

If the apps do not support this language, you have to feedback to the developer and wait for an update.

My keyboard doesn’t change language accordingly?

The default Samsung keyboard use English  (usually UK English unless you are living in North America). The language in Samsung keyboard is independent from system languages. Actually, very likely, you have more language options for Samsung keyboard than those for the system.

After you change Galaxy S5 language (system), the language for the keyboard will not change. You may follow our Samsung keyboard guide  (to be released soon) on changing setting and the usage of Samsung keyboard on Galaxy S5.

I know Galaxy S5 has XXX language in X country, but I cannot find this language in my Galaxy S5. Why?

This is normal. The system languages packed in your Galaxy S5 is tailored for your  region. It is impractical to pack all languages in the firmware.

Of course, this will be a problem if you need a language that is not included in the firmware in your region.

Currently, there are no solutions for  this. If you desperately need this language, you may ask Samsung service centre to flush the firmware to the one with this language.  It depends on your luck: sometimes they will refuse the request because the firmware may not work properly on your Galaxy S5.

Do you have any questions on how to change Galaxy S5 language?

If you still have questions or encounter any problems when changing Galaxy S5 language, please let us know in the comment box below.

More how-to guides , tips and tricks for using Samsung Galaxy S5 are available at Samsung Galaxy S5 how-to guides page.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. brandee says

    Some of my notifications come up in japanese my language setting is on English how do I fix this?

    Reply

  2. jessica says

    My native language is English and I would like to keep my phone settings in English, however sometimes I just want to text my husband in spanish ( his native language). Is there a way to switch just the text language while I am texting? (And then easily switch back to English for the next message)? Sometimes i even like to use both languages in the same message. Spanglish, you know… is there a setting for that? 😉

    Reply

  3. rodney says

    I speak proper English and I’m stuck with having only american English as a language option. My nexus phone has the ability to use proper English. Will there be an update allowing those of us in North America to have this choice? Just because I live in North America does not make me an american.
    Thank you.

    Reply

  4. oren says

    Hi i live in israel i have samsung galaxy s5 without hebrew language can you help my please .i buy the telphone in u.s

    Reply

  5. Sammi Lu says

    I had just got a tmobile Samsung galaxy and I don’t have a lot of options for language. There is only 5 languages, I tried downloading apps for it but it doesn’t work. Are there any other way I can change the language to the one I need.

    Reply

  6. SHALOM BENPORAT says

    SBP ASKS:

    WE PURCHASED GALAXY S5 IN BEST BUY NY,]VERIZON VERSION [

    IN THE THE PREVIOUS RESPONSE SAID:

    “”If you just need Hebrew input, you can add it in Samsung keyboard easily””

    HOW I CAN DO THAT?
    HOW TO ACTIVATE THE HEBREW FONTS KEYBOARD ON S5 ?
    I NEED THE HEBREW LANGUAGE JUST FOR THE INPUT FUNCTION, NOT FOR FOR THE ENTIRE SYSTEM.

    THANKS !
    SBP1889@GMAIL.COM

    Reply

  7. Glenn says

    This is one of the most depressing things I’ve come across on the internet. Any idea why they do this, and why there are videos of people demonstrating how to change the language who seem to have 100 options? It’s like a tease.

    Also, my carrier told me Samsung did it, then Samsung told me my carrier did it. It makes me wonder if anyone really knows what’s going on.

    Reply

  8. Glenn says

    I still don’t know of a reason not to include more than 100 languages, though. I had an iPod Touch that had 100+ languages. All the iPhones I’ve ever checked have had the same. Besides, why should they tell me which languages I should be able to set the phone to? This makes me wonder if this conversation going to end with the conclusion that I should have just gotten an iPhone…

    Reply

  9. Glenn says

    Thank you! Finally, a tangible answer! This is the first time I haven’t gotten either “it’s not possible” or “talk to the other guys.”

    On point one, do you know how much of a hit the firmware would take if they were all left on there? I’m assuming it’s probably got way more to do with point two (distribution network/exclusivity), though.

    It is mentioned in the article that there’s no way to get more added YET. Has this happened before and more were made available later, or did people just figure out how to hack their phones after a little while or something? Is one of those expected to happen in this case as well? I have lots of questions. Heh

    You’re right about the local languages. The ones on my phone are the ones most commonly used here as far as I can tell. The problem is that the ones I want aren’t in that group.

    Thanks again for your help! I finally feel like I’m getting somewhere with this!

    Reply

  10. Glenn says

    Ah, so no way in the works either, huh? I know there are lots more options with keyboards, but even that doesn’t have one that I want (traditional Chinese), and I wasn’t too happy with the Japanese input either, which led to me downloading Google Pinyin and their Japanese IME as well.

    Thanks for the info. I’m now considering finding a Samsung service center to see if they’ll hook me up. Thanks again!

    Reply

  13. Poey says

    Hi there, I recently purchased a Samsung G5 and using on Telstra 4G network in Australia. Initially the handwriting function in ENglish worked fine with the auto spacing. However, now it doesn’t seem to do the auto space like it did before. i have tried to reset the keyboard function and turning on and off the “Space key to input association” as well the “auto Spacing” option. When I use “Box handwriting” and “Full handwriting” i have to hit the space key twice for a space to register. ANy advice is greatly appreciated.

    Reply

  14. Hal Beyer says

    I accidentally tapped on a language in setting up my Galaxy S Duos phone that I do know know. Everything changed to that language and now I have no idea how to get it back to English. How can I get it back to English??

    Reply

  17. ladonna says

    My samsung 5 accidently got changed to a different language and i cant undersand the other language to know where to go to change it back.What can I do?

    Reply

  18. Matti Beyersdorf says

    Hello, my name is Matti and i’ve just bought a new Samsung Galaxy s5 in Malaysia. When i went home to my current location in Malaysia, i noticed that there is no German language included the local language pack. I am from Germany and i am forced to have my Mobilphone in german language, its more than neccessary for me. I am travelling around the world till summer 2015, so i cant just contact a local or german samsung company, because im moving all the time and at the moment i am situated on a small secluded island, far away from a city or any kind of companies. I researched already for apps which might be able to get me my needed language, but i noticed that any kind of language changing apps wont work with my android version 4.4.2. So i got a really big problem right now, i hope you might be able to help me.
    Kind regards

    Reply

  20. kshitiz says

    The default language Chinese is deleted from my phone, do how can I download an reinstall my my default language plc help and reply

    Reply

  21. Hugo says

    I converte the samsung to english but somehow the GALAXY APPS comes in japanese how to change it to English

    Reply

  22. who says

    Hi i have a samsung s5 and i want to have a chinese input added to my keyboard however im unable to see the language swipe option on my keyboard even after adding chinese language input in my settings as described in the instructions. Could someone please help me out here? Thanks!

    Reply

  24. Ivy Wu says

    I want to change my phone into Turkish??I read some articles about this problem, I download an app name “morelocale 2”, even cant find Turkish…plz, help me…

    Reply

  25. Jackie McCurdy says

    Hi, On a recent trip to Hong Kong I purchased the Galaxy K Zoom. At the store I asked them to set the language to English and they showed me how to do this and then did it for me. So for the most part everything is in English except that the apps like Galaxy Apps or S Planner, etc. that were already on the device, have the licence agreement pages in Chinese. I read somewhere else that typically when you change the language settings the app language will also change for all included apps but maybe not for added apps and that you might have to delete those and re-add them. I tried to delete, for example, the Galaxy Apps app to re-add it so the license agreement is in English but there is no way to remove these that I can see. My language input settings are definitely all English.

    Any suggestions that you have would be appreciated. Maybe I can reset the device and redo the set up from the start?

    Thanks
    Jackie

    Reply

  27. space says

    Hi, I bought S5 from South Korea it’s Model (SM-G900S) and I live in middle east this version not support Arabic language, and I need this language for the phone I visit local Samsung service center and ask them nicely to flush a rom with the language I want. but they did not accept to do it for me I don’t know why????, can I install another firmware like (SM-G900F) for the phone or I can’t??? and what the best firmware I can install it for this version (SM-G900S), and if I can’t what is the other option do I have to get Arabic language for it.

    Reply

  29. Roy R says

    I have all necessary languages, and checked the language boxes I need for my keyboard input but for some reason I don’t get the space bar language swipe option. The little arrows are just not there (or any other icon to help me quickly change input language). I am forced to go to settings and uncheck a language each time I need to swap.
    Any idea where the little arrows might have gone…?

    Reply

  30. Murray Healey says

    Hi I live in New Zealand and need Japanese language as a phone setting for work purposes. There isn’t an option to change my phone to Japanese. How do I get this option. It is available for the Key board but not for settings

    Reply

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