People always want to know if they can change the language settings on their Windows operating system to either multiple languages or just something else to suit the country they are in. For example you might live in Australia but spend alot of time in Germany doing business or vice versa. You can add, enable, and configure support for multiple languages by using the Regional Settings tool in Control Panel.

Watch this video that shows you how to change your language settings in Windows XP. It can seem like a daunting task but the video will show you the details you need.

Setup Windows XP for Mulitple Languages

The following instructions are from the Microsoft website.

To install another language and keyboard layout in Windows XP, follow these steps:

1. In the Windows XP classic Start menu, click Start, click Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Regional and Language Options.
3. Click the Languages tab, and then click Details under “Text Services and Input Languages”.
4. Click Add under “Installed Services”, and then click the language you want to add and the keyboard layout you want to use for that language.
5. To configure the settings for the Language bar, click Language Bar under “Preferences”.

Windows 2000

To add an additional language in Windows 2000, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Regional Settings.
3. Click the General tab, click to select the check box next to the appropriate language group you wish to install, and then click Apply. The system will either prompt for a Windows 2000 CD-ROM or access the system files across the network. Once the language is installed, Windows 2000 will prompt you to restart the computer.

To enable a newly added language and specify a keyboard layout in Windows 2000, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Regional Settings.
3. Click the Input Locales tab.
4. In the Input Locales box, click the appropriate language, and then click Properties.
5. In the Keyboard Layout box, click the appropriate keyboard layout, click OK, and then click OK.

Installing Non Western Languages on Windows XP

Very import: Be sure you have the Windows XP CD already inserted. These optional components are rarely pre-installed.

1. Open Start -> Settings -> Control Panel and then open Regional and Language Options

Note: You may need to have Administrator privileges in order to do the initial install step.

2. Click on the “Languages” tab and then look at the lower area indicated by the circle.

3. If the first box is checked, then support for the following languages has already been added to your machine: Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Hebrew, the Indic languages, Thai, and Vietnamese. If the second box is checked, then support for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean has already been added to your system.

If the language group you want is not checked; then check the appropriate box.

4. Then click “Apply” and you will be prompted to insert the install CD if not already inserted.

This is an except from a full detailed tutorial here.