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officially released in Minecraft 1.1. The language menu is accessible via a new button
in the main menu to the left of the options button, and from the options menu.
Previously, language packs were needed in order to change the in game language.
Language packs are obsolete, due to the official implementation of other languages.
Each language also has a font, although some languages share
Bugs and inaccuracies
Before 13w21a, the "Ouch. That looked like it hurt" message (shows when the /kill
command is used) does not appear to ever translate.
Some languages use Unicode fonts when they should not (example: Spanish doesn't, but
French does, even though the standard font contains all French characters).
Written Arabic uses connected letters, but the letters do not connect (e.g. "?????
???????" is written like "? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?") in the translations.
In some languages, the text is too long and overflows the button it is written on.
Splash texts are not translated and therefore always show up in English.
The option for Hebrew reads "??????" (English). It should be "?????" (Hebrew).
Minecraft's language option is only for displaying. In some languages (such as Chinese,
Japanese and so on) players cannot input text in their languages. This is because
Minecraft doesn't support Input method. Such users still use Mods which supports it.
Some in-game messages are not translated to any languages.
Trivia
Minecraft is available in three constructed languages: Esperanto (devised as an
international language and spoken fluently by around 100,000 people worldwide), Klingon
(an alien language from Star Trek devised by linguist Marc Okrand), and Quenya (one of
the Elvish languages devised by J.R.R. Tolkien). It is also available in the joke
"language" of Pirate Speak, which is English written in the way a stereotypical pirate
talks. Australian English also pokes fun and humorous stereotypes such as naming furnaces "Barbies", slang for barbeques, calling creepers "Bunyips" or calling a
Minecart a 'Holden', Holden being General Motor's marque for cars sold in Australia.
It is possible to add a custom language pack by modifying the minecraft.jar file, or,
as of 13w16a, copying it to the assets/lang folder. minecraft.jar file, or, as of 13w16a, copying it to the assets/lang folder.