Language setting keeps switching - Word 2008

[kyuuta6]

I have a totally English document, but Word 2008 keeps marking it as Japanese. There are no Japanese characters in my document. I started this document from scratch.

It does not matter whether 1) I update my normal style so that Asian text is MS Gothic and Latin text is TNR and change the language setting for Normal, or 2) whether I change the language setting for an individual paragraph, Word insists on changing the language setting back to Japanese as soon as I do something like centering.

How do I get Word to stop changing the language?

Benjamin Barrett

 

[MC]

I have a totally English document, but Word 2008 keeps marking it as
Japanese. There are no Japanese characters in my document. I started this
document from scratch.

It does not matter whether 1) I update my normal style so that Asian text is
MS Gothic and Latin text is TNR and change the language setting for Normal,
or 2) whether I change the language setting for an individual paragraph, Word
insists on changing the language setting back to Japanese as soon as I do
something like centering.

How do I get Word to stop changing the language?

This has just started happening to me -- but in my case it's not
Japanese but English (AUS).

I htink I've been working with a document cxreated in Word Windows that
may have been corrupted -- it was certainly strange -- but it looks like
*something* is going on.

I've tried everything I can thihnk of, including reverting to a
normal.dotm from a month ago (via Time Machine) and nothing's working.

Going to Repair Permissions and see if that does it.

One question: I recently installed the beta version of FruitMenu -- did
you? It seems to be working perfectly... but I suppose it could be
affecting Word.

 

[kyuuta6]

My region (locale in Windows) is clearly set to the US. I probably did switch keyboards at one point, but it's insane that if you change keyboards once in a document that the document will be permanently corrupted. I have reset and reset the Normal style multiple times as well as other styles I have, all to no avail.

Is there no workaround to eliminate this sticky language bug from my document?

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, it IS insane. There are people in Microsoft who think so too.

This is one of those exhausting "political" debates that has been continuing
for the past few years. Hopefully the forces of sanity will soon win.

If it's only one document, did you try a Maggie?

1) Create a new blank document

2) Carefully select all of the text in the bad document EXCEPT the last
paragraph mark

3) Copy it.

4) Paste in the new document.

5) Save under a new file name and close all, then re-open.

This technique for de-corrupting is known as "Doing a 'Maggie'", after
Margaret Secara from the Word PC-L mailing list who first publicised the
technique.

Cheers

My region (locale in Windows) is clearly set to the US. I probably did switch
keyboards at one point, but it's insane that if you change keyboards once in a
document that the document will be permanently corrupted. I have reset and
reset the Normal style multiple times as well as other styles I have, all to
no avail.

Is there no workaround to eliminate this sticky language bug from my document?

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]