MATLAB: How to change the display language of the MATLAB UI in Windows 7

MATLAB

My MATLAB desktop environment (in Windows 7) is displaying the UI elements in Chinese and I would like them in English. How do I display the UI in English?

Best Answer

In Windows 7, MATLAB displays its UI elements according to the system language, defined as the "system locale" (i.e. if the computer's system locale is Chinese, then MATLAB will display a Chinese UI). MATLAB "decides" to translate the GUI from the default language, English, to the system language when it launches. MATLAB can be kept from translating to the system language if the user defines an environment variable that blocks the translation. The environment variable is called MWLOCALE_TRANSLATED and can be defined as follows:
  1. Click into "Control Panel". From there, select "System and Security", then select "System". In the left-hand menu bar, select "Advanced system settings". A small window with the title "System Properties" should pop up.
  2. Click the "Environment Variables…" button under the "Advanced" tab. Another window, entitled "Environment Variables", will display.
  3. Click the "New…" button under "System variables" text box. In "Variable name", enter "MWLOCALE_TRANSLATED" and in "Variable value", enter "OFF". Click "OK" out of the "New System Variable", "Environment Variables", and "System Properties" window.
Setting MWLOCALE_TRANSLATED to "ON" will translate the UI to match the system locale; setting it to "OFF" will display the UI in the default language, English. 
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