Language Configuration

Do you need to know this?

Probably not. The default install sets the product language to the OS language. English is also always installed. This is ideal for the vast majority of environments. If you need something else, read on.

Custom language settings

All Acrobat installers are multi-language installers. Language configuration can be complex in some environments. For example, you may need to know the following:

  • The relevant locale and language codes for your serial number.

  • What languages to install on the machine (one, several, or all).

  • Whether or not the default language is that of the OS.

  • Whether or not the user should be allowed to reset the language.

  • Whether the language variant maps to a differently named base MST.

  • If you need additional font packs which are available as separate installers.

At its simplest, use SUPPRESSLANGSELECTION=YES to set the default language to match that of the OS and remove the startup screen that asks uses to select a language.

Installer types

Adobe provides the following installers:

  • Language specific installers: These are identified by a language code in the installer’s file name; for example, en_US. These are available from the Reader Download Center and the ETK’s Release Notes pages. In those cases, use the installer file name to identify the language for which the installer is intended.

  • Language agnostic installers: Almost all planned updates and out of cycle updates are language agnostic and can be applied over a product of any language. These don’t have a language code in the installer’s file name.

    • All Acrobat installers are MUI installers.

    • All major releases provide a MUI installer.

    • Most updates and patches apply to MUI installs and no MUI-specific updates are provided.

    • If a MUI update is provided, it must be used to update MUI installs.

Verifying language support

In addition to the installer’s filename, you can also check the setup file directory which includes the language specific .mst files. These are identified by language ID codes.

Pre-deployment configuration

Methods for specifying the product language include:

  • Default: Let the MUI installer set the language to the OS language (same as manually setting bUseMUI to 1 as described in the Preference Reference.)

  • Install a multi language installer (MUI or non-English which also includes English), and let the end user select the language.

  • Set the language with the Customization Wizard. Refer to Installation Options > Language selection.

  • Set the language with command line properties..

  • Specify both the language code and the language-specific MST on the command line. For example, to deploy a Dutch version of the product, use:

msiexec /i <path\AcroPro.msi> LANG_LIST=en_US TRANSFORMS="1043.mst;<other MSTs if needed>"  /qb

Multilanguage installers

All Acrobat installers are MUI installers. Reader is also provided in a MUI version. MUI installers provide a way to install the product with support for more than one language. Features include:

  • Support for more than one language so that users can switch languages.

  • Automatic selection of the language based on the language of the current OS.

  • The MUI installer for Acrobat on both Windows and Macintosh provide the following benefits to enterprise IT and OEM vendors:

    • A reduction in the number of Acrobat installers from twenty to two (1 each for Pro and Standard).

    • For those supporting multiple locales, one or two downloads (as opposed to up to 20) and a simpler patching and update workflow.

    • Smaller patch sizes.

    • Simplified licensing: Both Windows and Macintosh use a limited number of serial number types to specify the product language.

The base installer is an MSI file, and MSP patches are also periodically released which can only be applied over the base mui MSI install. Both installers are identified by “_mui” in the filename.

Note

MUI installers are only created in tandem with full MSI installers. They are not created for MSP updates and patches. What this means for your deployment methodology is that you simply install the generic installer over your MUI install if there is a no MUI-specific installer. If there is a MUI-specific installer, you must use that. Download the MUI installer from <https://ardownload2.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/>.

The MUI Reader always contains the base English resources. To support another language, an additional resource bundle is added to the installation. Therefore, English is always present, and the single language Reader is about the same size as the MUI Reader.

The installation size varies with the type of install:

  • Bootstrapper (setup.exe) or UI-based installer: The size is significantly larger than the single language version because the full installer is kept on the disk.

  • AIP install: Except for minor differences in some of the text files, the size of the MUI Reader will be about the same as the single language Reader.

Windows MUI installers for Acrobat behave as follows:

  • All serial numbers are language based.

  • There are two types of serial numbers: one for all languages and one for a single language.

  • The installer gets the language attributes from the serial number.

  • English is always installed in addition to any specified locale.

  • End user installs with a retail non-MUL serial number do not provide additional language options at install time.

  • Language specification occurs as follows:

    • An “all language” serial number installs Acrobat in the OS language (Typical Installation).

    • A “single language” serial number installs Acrobat in the specified language

    • End users can choose any combination of languages to be installed via a custom installation.

    • End users will be able to install one or more languages via the Installer Repair/Modify option.

    • The LANG_LIST property can be used for command line installs.

Machine-level details

The application language is selected during the installation of the initial major version using Setup.exe and is then stored on the system. For example, on Windows, it’s in:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\<product name>\<version>\Language]"UI"="ENU"

The product UI language is actually determined by the sidecar dll stored in:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\<product name>\<version>\Language]"current"

Therefore, if a user switches the dll under current or changes the UI key, the two keys may not match. Ultimately, the dll under current determines the product language.

Post 11.x language support

Tier 1

Language Name

Locale

SKU abbreviation

Comments

Universal English

en_US

UE

All products

French

fr_FR

F

All products

German

de_DE

D

All products

Japanese

ja_JP

JPL

All products

French Canadian

fr_CA

FC

Mapped to fr_FR

International English

en_GB

EAP, EUE, EUW, IE, LAE

Mapped to en_US
Tier 2

Language Name

Locale

SKU abbreviation

Comments

Dutch

nl_NL

NL

All products

Italian

it_IT

I

All products

Spanish

es_ES

E

All products

Latin/North American Spanish

es_MX

LAS, NAS

mapped to es_ES

Brazilian Portuguese

pt_BR

PB

All products

Portuguese

pt_PT

P

mapped to pt_BR

Swedish

sv_SE

S

All products

Danish

da_DK

DK

All products

Finnish

fi_FI

SF

All products

Norwegian

nb_NO

N

All products
Tier 3

Language Name

Locale

SKU abbreviation

Comments

Chinese Simplified

zh_CN

CS

All products

Chinese Traditional

zh_TW

CT

All products

Korean

kr_KR

KOR

All products
Tier 4

Language Name

Locale

SKU abbreviation

Comments

Czech

cs_CZ

CZ

All products

Hungarian

ht_HU

HU

All products

Polish

pl_PL

PL

All products

Russian

ru_RU

RU

All products

Ukrainian

uk_UA

UKR

All products

Turkish

tr_TR

TR

All products

Slovak

sk_SK

SL

Windows only

Slovenian

sl_SI

SVN

Windows only

Basque

eu_ES

none

Windows Reader only

Catalan

ca_ES

none

Windows Reader only

Croatian

hr_HR

none

Windows Reader only

Romanian

ro_RO

none

Mac and Windows, Reader only
Tier 5

Language Name

Locale

SKU abbreviation

Comments

North African French

fr_MA

NAF

All products (no locale for Mac since the UI appears in the OS locale)

Middle Eastern English for Arabic

en_AE

MEA

All products (no locale for Mac since the UI appears in the OS locale)

Middle Eastern English for Hebrew

en_IL

MEH

All products (no locale for Mac since the UI appears in the OS locale)

Locale and language codes

Installer filenames include a locale identifier consisting of consists of a language code and a country code. For example, the Reader installer filename is in the form of AdbeRdr<version>_<language code>.exe. Thus, AdbeRdr10_en_US.exe is an English installer.

Note

Details about what languages are supported in each release appear in the Release Notes.

Installer components and workflows adhere to the ID system used by Microsoft. For details, see:

These IDs are also used on the command line, in installer tables, and elsewhere.

Locale and language codes

Language

Code

Language ID code

Basque

eu

1069

Bulgarian

bg

1026

Catalan

ca

1027

Chinese (China)

zh_CN

2052

Chinese (Taiwan)

zh_TW

1028

Croatian

hr

1050

Czech

cs

1029

Danish

da_DK

1030

Dutch

nl_NL

1043

English

en_US

1033

Estonian

et

1061

Finnish

fi_FI

1035

French

fr_FR

1036

German

de_DE

1031

Hungarian

hu

1038

Italian

it_IT

1040

Japanese

ja_JP

1041

Korean

ko_KR

1042

Latvian

lv

1062

Lithuanian

lt

1063

Norwegian

nb_NO

1044

Portuguese – Brazilian

pt_BR

1046

Romanian

ro

1048

Russian

ru

1049

Slovak

sk

1051

Slovenian

sl

1060

Spanish

es_ES

1034

Swedish

sv_SE

1053

Turkish

tr

1055

Ukrainian

uk

1058

English with Arabic

en_AE

1025

English with Hebrew

en_IL

1037

North African French

fr_MA

6165

Polish

pl_PL

1045