Ubuntu – How to start ubuntu-software in english on a german system without changing the langage settings

language

So far, I was able to start applications in english reliably by specifying the environment variables LANGUAGE (sometimes LANG or LC_ALL) with value en, en_US or C which is also what questions like How to change language of a specific application? explain. env LANGUAGE=en gedit works like a charm.

However, with ubuntu-software I have no luck. Is there any way to start the program in english. I want to write very high-quality instructions in english how to use the software center (including button and other control labels) without switching the system language setup or choosing some other complex approaches like going through the i18n source code.

I'm using Ubuntu 18.10.

Best Answer

Due to a bug in software-center/ubuntu-software (since 2009) it's necessary to get the apt cache in english once in order to be able to start the software in english using the LANGUAGE variable as usual as pointed out by user Rinzwind:

sudo env LANGUAGE=en apt-get update && sudo env LANGUAGE=en ubuntu-software

starts the software in english.

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Ubuntu – English as a system language but Russian regional settings

If you execute locale you can see the language variables that are used for various sections of the operating system:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

More about locale variables in the gettext manual: Locale Environment Variables - GNU `gettext' utilities

You can export these variables e.g. export LC_PAPER="ru_RU.UTF-8" - this will make a temporary change.

If you want to make it permanent you can change the regional formats using gnome-language-selector. Or you can add the export command in ~/.profile and/or ~/.bashrc

For the papersize, I found that you can edit /etc/papersize - change "letter" to "a4". You might also need to set export LC_PAPER="en_GB.UTF_8" (or maybe export LC_PAPER="ru_RU.UTF_8" if ru_RU defaults to A4)

Source: answers.launchpad.net: Question #6846 : Questions : “evince” package : Ubuntu

P.S. Personally I use en_GB (English / United Kingdom) for everything since it uses the SI metric system instead of American English and US units.

Change Git’s Language to English Without Changing Locale – How to

You can add alias to you .bashrc or .bash_profile

alias git='LANG=en_US.UTF-8 git'

If LANG doesn't work, try LC_ALL or LANGUAGE

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – English as a system language but Russian regional settings

Change Git’s Language to English Without Changing Locale – How to

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