Languages on iPhone

There are over 30 languages on iPhone that are already pre-installed.  All what you have to do is enable them by following the procedure in this page.

The versatility of the iPhone is one of its beautiful powers. You can simply go to websites of different languages and display them correctly without a problem, and without installing any additional software. As you can see below, Aljazeera Arabic website is displayed correctly without any additional settings using iPhone Safari or any iPhone browser.

Languages on iPhone can be changed in two areas, the keyboard language, and the system language.

The Keyboard Language changes the virtual keyboard characters to the desired language on the iPhone so that you have the ability to type in 2 or more languages on the same document, and being able to switch between the keyboards easily.

The System Language changes the system language on iPhone so that all pre-installed applications like Photos, Maps, and Weather are translated to the selected language. Moreover, your Settings, system messages and errors will also be translated to the selected language.

You can only have one system language but multiple keyboard languages. The iPhone must reboot after each system language change.

The iPhone Keyboard Language:

You can add the keyboard language in Settings, General, keyboard, and then International Keyboards.





















Select the desired keyboard language from the available list by turning it on. In this example, I added Arabic keyboard.

You can access this new keyboard anywhere in any text field by tapping the globe button next to the space shown below by the red circle.

The example above shows iPhone Notes typing in both arabic and english . For Arabic typing the iPhone switches the typing direction from left to right automatically.

The System Language:

The other option of changing languages on iPhone is the overall system language. This is accomplished by selecting a language in Setting, General, and then International. Once a language is selected, your iPhone will restart, and the whole interface will be changed to reflect that language.

Apple application like Notes, Weather, Stocks, and Maps names and options will be changed. All system menus and error messages will also be changed. In this example, I switch the iPhone to Arabic system.

The iPhone will restart, and the whole system will be changed to Arabic as shown.

Even the Undo feature, system warnings and errors will be changed to Arabic. A very beautiful job from Apple.

You can follow this procedure to switch to any of the 30 available languages on the iPhone.

Switch Language back to English:

If you have switched your iPhone language to something other than english, you might find it difficult to switch it back to english since the system will be displaying another language.

This situation could happen if you accidentally switched the language on your iPhone to a language that you don't understand. Then all the text on your iPhone become a foreign language to you.

Here is a graphical way to return language back to english.

• Tap the Settings Application which has an iPhone icon that looks like this.

• Tap the Same iPhone icon again in the next menu, which should be in the same first page. Then move all the way to the bottom, and tap the third row from the bottom.

• Then tap the first button, and you will see English in the list. Tap English and then tap the button at the top right to confirm. The iPhone will restart and will go back to English language.

Also check out Arabic iPhone application for more interesting Arabic apps in the app store.

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