is a settable global variable that specifies the default language used by the Wolfram System.
$Language
is a settable global variable that specifies the default language used by the Wolfram System.
Details
- $Language is used to determine the language used for messages and other system notifications.
- All language names are conventionally given in English and are capitalized, as in "French".
- In some cases, $Language may be set to a writing script, such as "ChineseSimplified" or "ChineseTraditional", when there are multiple writing systems for a particular language.
- Common values for $Language include: "English", "ChineseSimplified", "ChineseTraditional", "French", "Japanese", "Korean" and "Spanish".
- When a message with a name s::tag is requested either internally or through the Message function, the Wolfram Language searches for a message with the name s::tag::lang corresponding to $Language . Only if it fails to find such a message will it use the message with the actual name s::tag.
Examples
Basic Examples (2)
Show the current default language:
Get the list of characters associated with the alphabet:
Tech Notes
Related Guides
History
Introduced in 1991 (2.0)
Text
Wolfram Research (1991), $Language, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$Language.html.
CMS
Wolfram Language. 1991. "$Language." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$Language.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (1991). $Language. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$Language.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_$language, author="Wolfram Research", title="{$Language}", year="1991", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$Language.html}", note=[Accessed: 04-December-2025]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_$language, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={$Language}, year={1991}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$Language.html}, note=[Accessed: 04-December-2025]}