[Solved] How do I change the system default language while keeping my keyboard layout?

[hackphi]

Hi,

I'm new to Debian (12) and would like my system to be in English. However, I am using a German Keyboard and surprisingly, the installation process didn't let me combine English as a system language and a German keyboard layout so I had to go with German as overall language.

I found the option in the settings to change the language, but only German is offered. So I thought I probably need to install an English language pack but I can't find out how.

How hard can it be?

I am using the Cinnamon desktop.

Vielen Dank!

[Diesel330]

You think that you choose language but Debian chose language for you. You might even think that you chose Debian but in fact Debian chose you and put this struggle on your way to test your character and your determination, to make you better

[fabien]

Hello, welcome to the forums!

I found the option in the settings to change the language, but only German is offered.

What is the output of locale -a when you type it in a terminal?

[hackphi]

You think that you choose language but Debian chose language for you. You might even think that you chose Debian but in fact Debian chose you and put this struggle on your way to test your character and your determination, to make you better

Ha! I am the chosen one!

Hello, welcome to the forums!

I found the option in the settings to change the language, but only German is offered.

What is the output of locale -a when you type it in a terminal?

I get this:

C
C.utf8
de_DE.utf8
POSIX

[fabien]

I get this:

C
C.utf8
de_DE.utf8
POSIX

OK, thanks. First, you need to add the English locale, for example en_US.UTF-8. To do this, you run dpkg-reconfigure locales as root in a terminal.
On the first page you keep your German locale and add an English locale (always choose a UTF8 locale).
The second page allows you to configure the default locale, there you choose the English one.

Then you run dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration to reconfigure the keyboard layout if necessary.
Before that, it might be a good idea to save the original files for future reference:

Code: Select all

#> cp /etc/default/console-setup /etc/default/.console-setup.save
#> cp /etc/default/keyboard /etc/default/.keyboard.save

See the Locale page in the Debian Wiki for documentation, and also

Code: Select all

$> man 5 keyboard

It may take a bit of tinkering to get your exact configuration, the forum will provide you with resources on this. Let us know how it went.

Also consider changing the title of your first post to make it more specific, e.g.
How do I change the system default language while keeping my keyboard layout?

[sunrat]

What is the output of locale -a when you type it in a terminal?

I get this:

C
C.utf8
de_DE.utf8
POSIX

Please use standard code tags for multiline output, not inline code tags. Inline tags are for a single command inside a sentence.

[hackphi]

How do I do that?

[sunrat]

How do I do that?

Use the Code display button in the reply box. Or manually using "code" in the <> instead of "c" like you did.

[hackphi]

I get this:

C
C.utf8
de_DE.utf8
POSIX

OK, thanks. First, you need to add the English locale, for example en_US.UTF-8. To do this, you run dpkg-reconfigure locales as root in a terminal.

Doing that produces the following error message in the language Debian has chosen for me:

Code: Select all

dpkg: Fehler: Aktionen -e (--control) und -r (--remove) stehen in Konflikt

Nutzen Sie dpkg --help für Hilfe zur Installation und Deinst. von Paketen [*];
Benutzen Sie »apt« oder »aptitude« für benutzerfreundliches Paketmanagement;
Nutzen Sie dpkg -Dhelp für eine Liste von Debug-Flags von dpkg;
Nutzen Sie dpkg --force-help für eine Liste von Optionen zum Erzwingen;
Nutzen Sie dpkg-deb --help für Hilfe zum Manipulieren von *.deb-Dateien;

Optionen mit [*] geben viel aus - schicken Sie es durch »less« oder »more«!
root@debian:/home/philipp# 

[fabien]

Doing that produces the following error message in the language Debian has chosen for me:

I was able to reproduce this error:

Code: Select all

#> LANG="en_US.utf8" dpkg -reconfigure locales
dpkg: error: conflicting actions -e (--control) and -r (--remove)

Type dpkg --help for help about installing and deinstalling packages [*];
Use 'apt' or 'aptitude' for user-friendly package management;
Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag values;
Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options;
Type dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb files;

Options marked [*] produce a lot of output - pipe it through 'less' or 'more' !

This is because the correct command is dpkg-reconfigure (one word), not dpkg -reconfigure.

Code: Select all

#> dpkg-reconfigure locales

[hackphi]

Doing that produces the following error message in the language Debian has chosen for me:

I was able to reproduce this error:

Code: Select all

#> LANG="en_US.utf8" dpkg -reconfigure locales
dpkg: error: conflicting actions -e (--control) and -r (--remove)

Type dpkg --help for help about installing and deinstalling packages [*];
Use 'apt' or 'aptitude' for user-friendly package management;
Type dpkg -Dhelp for a list of dpkg debug flag values;
Type dpkg --force-help for a list of forcing options;
Type dpkg-deb --help for help about manipulating *.deb files;

Options marked [*] produce a lot of output - pipe it through 'less' or 'more' !

This is because the correct command is dpkg-reconfigure (one word), not dpkg -reconfigure.

Code: Select all

#> dpkg-reconfigure locales

Well then it says (in German): "command not found". There, it makes no difference if I'm root or not.

[fabien]

Well then it says (in German): "command not found". There, it makes no difference if I'm root or not.

dpkg-reconfigure is part of the debconf package which is mandatorily installed. It is located in /usr/sbin/, you can test with

Code: Select all

$> ls /usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure
/usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure

Therefore, I assume you are not properly logging in as root, resulting in an incorrectly set PATH. You need to use su -, not just su so that /usr/sbin/ is in your PATH.

Code: Select all

$> su
Password:
#> echo "$PATH"
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
#> command -V dpkg-reconfigure 
bash: command: dpkg-reconfigure: not found
#> exit
$> su -
Password:
#> echo "$PATH"
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
#> command -V dpkg-reconfigure 
dpkg-reconfigure is /usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure

[hackphi]

I get this:

C
C.utf8
de_DE.utf8
POSIX

OK, thanks. First, you need to add the English locale, for example en_US.UTF-8. To do this, you run dpkg-reconfigure locales as root in a terminal.
On the first page you keep your German locale and add an English locale (always choose a UTF8 locale).
The second page allows you to configure the default locale, there you choose the English one.

Ok, thanks. I was now able to do that after "properly" becoming root as explained in the last post.

The first step was all that was needed. I saw that my keyboard layout was still German afterwards (as I wanted it to be). I then restarted the system and it was in English, except my standard folders didn't get renamed, which is ok for me. Key layout was German after restart also. Bash is also giving me error messages in English now.

Thanks again, guys!