The age of globalization is a century international communication. We all have to communicate with our relatives living abroad. Or with business partners from abroad. And some people are simply interested in practicing their knowledge of the language.
But you can’t write in Russian letters english words- no one will understand you. And it often happens that you need to insert a foreign word into the text of an article or story, and therefore you need to know how to switch the language on the keyboard in order to write that very word. There are several ways, and we will look at the three most basic ones.
Switching using hotkeys
Perhaps this is the fastest and reliable way. In order to change the keyboard layout, you need to hold down only two keys at the same time: Shift + Alt or Shift + Ctrl. These are the standard combinations for operating system Windows. But they can also be changed - we will talk about this a little later.
Working with the language bar
On the taskbar, which is located at the bottom of the desktop, the language bar is always displayed among the icons on the right. She looks like two latin letters: RU – if your language is Russian or EN – if English.
If you don't have such icons, you can add them. To do this you need:
- Right-click on the taskbar.
- Go to the "Panels" menu.
- Check the box next to "Language bar".
Using the language bar, you can also find out how to change the keyboard layout. To do this, left-click on the RU or EN icon and check the box next to the language we need.
How to add a language
But what if desired language No? No problem, you can easily add it! To do this:
- Right-click on the language bar.
- Select the "Options" item.
- In the "General" tab, click on the "Add" button.
- Among the huge list of languages, we select the one we need.
- Click on it and select the usual keyboard layout.
- Click on the "Ok" button.
That's it, now you no longer have two icons in the language bar, but three.
Using the same "Options" menu, you can set hotkeys for changing languages and for each language separately. This can be done in the "Keyboard switching" tab.
Special programs
But it’s inconvenient to press hotkeys or click on the language bar every time. That’s why there is such a convenient program as Punto Switcher. This program automatically guesses what language you are typing in and switches it by replacing the word.
At first glance, it may seem that the average Russian-speaking PC user will only need native language, installed on your computer by default as the interface language and keyboard layout. Yes, perhaps this will be enough for most office tasks if you use a computer or laptop as a modern analogue of a typewriter, but an Internet user will definitely need the Latin alphabet to enter the address of the desired website, email and other tasks. Let's take a closer look at the settings of the language bar and the basic principles of working with it using Windows 7 as an example.
The easiest way to change the input language is by resorting to the interface of the Windows language bar itself, which by default is located on the right side of the taskbar next to the notification area and shows the current language. So, click on the RU icon, indicating the use of the Russian language in current moment, and we see other languages to choose from, among which may be the English we need, if the language bar was previously configured accordingly. Setting up the language bar, in particular adding/removing input languages, will be discussed in Section 3 of this article. Another way to switch between input languages involves using the keyboard itself. So, depending on the settings, to change the layout language you need to press the key combination Ctrl+Shift or Alt+Shift. This method will be especially convenient when typing with both hands, since it does not require additional time spent manipulating the mouse; your hands remain on the keyboard. Regarding the language bar settings, they are very simple and understandable. To open the settings window, right-click on the icon in the taskbar and select “Options...”.
If you still have questions about switching to another input language or setting the language bar to a more new version Windows, then in the video attached below you will find similar instructions for Windows 8.
If you need to use in the text foreign words, use the special option by selecting it on the keyboard or work panel of your laptop. At the same time, each user can use the keyboard shortcuts that are most convenient for him, customizing them for himself.
You will need
- - laptop.
Instructions
In this lesson we will talk about how to set the language on your computer.
Let's open the panel that is responsible for this. Open the "Start" menu -> "Control Panel".
In the "Small Icons" view mode, double-click the left mouse button on the "Regional and Language" icon.
The first tab that opens in front of us is “Formats”. Here you can configure the display format of Date, time, and specify the first day of the week. At the top of the window we indicate how it will be displayed, and at the bottom there are display samples.
The second tab is "Location". We just leave Russia unchanged.
Let's jump ahead a little and look at the Advanced tab. There are two settings here. One of them is responsible for setting up all kinds of greetings on the computer. Here we click on the “Copy parameters” button and go to settings.
A new window opens with options for the current user, the welcome screen that loads at the very beginning, and options for new accounts. There are no special settings here. On this tab you can simply display general information, which is mainly configured in the Languages and Keyboards tab. Additionally, you can check two checkboxes at the bottom so that the settings that we will make later are copied to your accounts and to the welcome screen.
The second setting in the "Advanced" tab is Setting the system language. By clicking on the "Change system language..." button, you can change the Windows language. Be careful that the interface language changes on the "Language and Keyboards" tab. After changing this setting, you must restart Windows to apply the setting to the entire operating system.
If required language is not in the list, then it can be installed through the "Center Windows updates". Below we will look at how to do this.
Now let's go to the "Language and Keyboards" tab. Here, firstly, you can change the interface language by selecting the ones you need from the drop-down list.
If what you need is not there, then click on the “Install or remove language...” button. A window pops up in which we select the installation item, and then “Run Windows Update.” In the update center you need to click on “Search for updates”.
This update is considered Optional. In the update center they are labeled as "Windows Language Pack". Simply select the desired package from the list and click "OK".
Make sure that only the selected package is installed, and not all updates, as this can lead to Windows being blocked if it is not licensed. After that, click the “Install updates” button.
After installation, return to the settings window and change the interface or system language to the installed one.
A new window opens. There are 3 tabs here. The first “general” is responsible for the input language, which is set by default. When Windows loads or you enter some program, the keyboard layout will always be set to it.
Also, here you can add languages between which you will switch. To do this, click on the “Add” button and select the one you need from the list to add.
The second tab is "Language panel". This is the panel that is displayed in the tray, in the lower right corner. Here you can configure its display. There is nothing complicated here, so you can experiment.
Well, the last thing we have to do is configure the keyboard switching. Here we are most interested in the “Switch input language” item. Select this item and click the "Change keyboard shortcut..." button.
A new window will open. It is here in the left column that we configure the keyboard shortcut to change keyboard input. Just set a convenient combination and click "OK". The “Not assigned” item can be set when you change the input through a third-party program, for example, punto switcher, which I already talked about in one of my lessons.
This concludes the setup. If you still have questions, the video tutorial below may be useful to you.
If you need to change the set Windows 7 password for one reason or another, then in this lesson I will show you how to do it easily and quickly.
