Thanks for the postings guys. Does anyone please, please, please know of how to fix this? This is causing me somuch stress that I am thinking of switchingback to NeoOffice.

Cheers,

Ak2146.

Just wondering, does the language have anything to do with the region you have selected for your computer?

System Preferences > Date & Time > Time Zone

Does selecting an Australian Time Zone flow on to the set up of the language and dictionary defaults?

(If not, it should )

Ang

Thanks Ang. Tried that, but still no go! This is driving me mad.

Cheers,
ak2146

I set the language to English (AU) by editing the the Normal.dotm file.
Users -> (Your Name) -> Library -> Application Support -> Microsoft -> Office -> User Templates -> Normal.dotm.

When you save the amended file, save it to your desktop (as a template file), then once Word is closed copy/paste back into the User Templates folder.

Restart word and go to Tools -> Language. If you have done the above correct, your language will be set to English (AU).

You can also edit the Normal.dotm file to set custom fonts, margins etc as standard.

This works in both Office Mac 2008 and 2011.

Dear Luztra,

I tried your suggestions and it worked! Thank you so much, I really do appreciate your help with this.

Regards,

Ak2146.

Hey, that solutions sounds great, but how do I edit the normal.dotm file to have the right dictionary?

I open the file and go to dictionary and choose english UK, but it doesn't make a difference since it was already set to english UK when I opened it, but no matter what would use american spelling. All my colours are now color etc.

How do I edit the normal.dotm file in the way you mean?

Is there any other way?

Have you tried changing the Languge. Tools > Language

Originally Posted by luztra

I set the language to English (AU) by editing the the Normal.dotm file.
Users -> (Your Name) -> Library -> Application Support -> Microsoft -> Office -> User Templates -> Normal.dotm.

When you save the amended file, save it to your desktop (as a template file), then once Word is closed copy/paste back into the User Templates folder.

Restart word and go to Tools -> Language. If you have done the above correct, your language will be set to English (AU).

You can also edit the Normal.dotm file to set custom fonts, margins etc as standard.

This works in both Office Mac 2008 and 2011.

This worked Awesome i have been bugged by this for ages. Good onya.

Guys I am new to the Mac system and I just bought Office for Mac 2011 Home & Student pack. My version is in Japanese. My question is, can I change the entire language settings of Office say instead of seeing Japanese characters on the Menu bar I would see it in English instead? When I tried the guide that was posted here all it enables me to do is to type in English without having the squiggly red lines underneath each and every English word I write down. What I need help from is how to change the language of the software itself so that I can see it in English and not in Japanese.

This may sound like asking too much but I don't want to waste the money I just threw down on this machine. I really hope you guys can help me out. Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

emei

Try iText Express (free) and iText Pro (cheap) instead. Both are excellent Word processors in English and Japanese and have excellent support for most Japanese features even Ruby script.

Microsoft has non-standard language support on the Mac and may or may not switch languages for you but it will always be a hastle.

Such a change seems tobe working for me. Choosing Default in the language setting warns that Normal.dotm will be changed, and the change seems to be sticking across restarts of Word, although I'm not sure whether I've tried it across a reboot.

Has anyone got a fix for this for Powerpoint 2011? The template fix seems to work for Word but I can't find an equivalent. Not expecting a fix from MS for this since it's been ongoing for so long :P

If you go to

Tools --> Language,

Choose English (AUS)

Then click Default in the bottom left of the dialog it actually updates your Normal.Dot file

Originally Posted by luztra

I set the language to English (AU) by editing the the Normal.dotm file.
Users -> (Your Name) -> Library -> Application Support -> Microsoft -> Office -> User Templates -> Normal.dotm.

When you save the amended file, save it to your desktop (as a template file), then once Word is closed copy/paste back into the User Templates folder.

Restart word and go to Tools -> Language. If you have done the above correct, your language will be set to English (AU).

You can also edit the Normal.dotm file to set custom fonts, margins etc as standard.

This works in both Office Mac 2008 and 2011.

I think I'm just being thick, but where can I find the menu 'users'? I've tried using the finder and I can't see it, and haven't been able to find any of those folders by searching for them.

hamandpeaches

That is not on your menu that is the folder path in Finder.

User is whatever your account is called, the one with the little house icon next to it.

You may have to select the text to make the language apply to it:

Word > Menu > Tools > Language… > English (AUS)

Originally Posted by emei

Guys I am new to the Mac system and I just bought Office for Mac 2011 Home & Student pack. My version is in Japanese. My question is, can I change the entire language settings of Office say instead of seeing Japanese characters on the Menu bar I would see it in English instead? When I tried the guide that was posted here all it enables me to do is to type in English without having the squiggly red lines underneath each and every English word I write down. What I need help from is how to change the language of the software itself so that I can see it in English and not in Japanese.

This may sound like asking too much but I don't want to waste the money I just threw down on this machine. I really hope you guys can help me out. Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

@emei, did you get a fix for this? I have a similar problem. I have an Italian version I want to change to English.
Thanks mate.

Originally Posted by tomo_mate

If you go to

Tools --> Language,

Choose English (AUS)

Then click Default in the bottom left of the dialog it actually updates your Normal.Dot file

thanks tomo_mate - this is super easy and worked great.

cheers