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Sometimes I type in German and sometimes in English.

I seem to be only able to switch on autocompletion for one language and have to add the words of the other language one by one to the dictionary.

Is there a better way for those people who are multilingual?

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
8

Yes, you can do this. Here's how:

Note: I'm on Froyo (Android 2.2), so if you're on a different version it may be slightly different.

  • Go To your home screen.
  • Choose Settings from the Menu
  • Choose Language & Keyboard
  • Choose Android Keyboard
  • Choose Input Languages
  • Select the English and German Languages
  • Exit out by pressing the Home Key

You're now set up for German and English.

Here's how to test it:

  • Open the browser
  • Tap the address bar to bring up the keyboard
  • LONG PRESS the address bar (or text field, whatever you want to call it)
  • Look at the the space bar: it will have the following: < English >
  • Now SWIPE/SLIDE your finger over the space bar, you'll see it change to < German >

Once < German > is selected, you're now using the German keyboard. Swipe again to return to English.

Enjoy.

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5
  • I'm on HTC Hero with 2.1 at the moment and it this process seems to be froyo specific. It makes me want to root my phone ;)
    – Christian
    Jul 25, 2010 at 23:31
  • I cant do this on my 2.1 milestone. Can anyone confirm its Froyo specific?
    – David Reis
    Jul 29, 2010 at 6:01
  • I am trying to do this for English & French, but my phone only has English & Chinese in input languages. How can I add French please?
    – user1073203
    Dec 1, 2011 at 9:40
  • @user1073203 You may need to download a 3rd party keyboard that supports those languages
    – Bryan Denny ♦
    Dec 1, 2011 at 16:53
  • I'm wanting to set up the three language keyboards I all use every day: Japanese, Swedish and English. I have a Sony Xperia (Android 4.0.4) and am unable to do the above. There is nothing called "Android Keyboard" (I only find three different kinds of "Xperia *** keyboard" (English, Chinese, Japanese) in my settings. So the above doesn't help.
    – Jonny
    Mar 6, 2013 at 1:21
1

As Bryan has rightly said by installing third party keyboard apps will be helpful. Try an app like the SwiftKey Keyboard.

It has a multilingual keyboard support and is much better in typing when compared to the stock keyboard provided.

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0

What about installing an alternative keyboard, like AnySoftKeyboard with appropriate language packs. (It's free/libre/open-source software, and it's available from http://f-droid.org, which means that it was independently rebuilt from the sources. So you have another guarantee that it doesn't spy, by the way.)

Configure it for multiple languages, and choose it as your default one.

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