In Windows, how can I view web pages in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, or other non-Roman alphabets, or that include foreign language characters?

To view web pages in non-Roman alphabets, follow the appropriate instructions below:

• Internet Explorer 5.x and 6.0
• Internet Explorer 3.0 and 4.0
• Firefox 1.0 and 1.5
• Netscape 7.x
• Netscape 6.x

Internet Explorer 5.x and 6.0

Displaying languages correctly

Internet Explorer has an Auto-Select feature for displaying languages correctly. Some web pages include information about what encoding to use when displaying the page; the Auto-Select feature enables Internet Explorer to determine the appropriate language encoding for a web page even if the page itself doesn't specify which encoding to use. To turn on the Auto-Select feature, follow these steps:

1. From the View menu, select Encoding, and then select Auto-Select.
   
   
2. You may be prompted to download a language support component; if so, click Download.

If Auto-Select cannot determine the correct language and you know what the language should be, you can manually select it while viewing a web page, as follows:

1. From the View menu, select Encoding, then More.
   
   
2. Select the appropriate language or character set/encoding. If prompted to download language support components, click Download.

Adding a language does not guarantee that your computer has a font that it can use to display web pages in the selected language. You can set Internet Explorer to notify you when fonts are needed:

1. From the Tools menu, select Internet Options... .
   
   
2. From the Internet Options window, click the Advanced tab, and then click the checkbox for Enable Install On Demand (in Internet Explorer 6, this option is labeled Enable Install On Demand (Internet Explorer) ).

Setting a preferred language

You can also specify which language you would like Internet Explorer to use when a web page is supplied in more than one language:

1. In Internet Explorer, from the Tools menu, select Internet Options... .
   
   
2. On the General tab, click Languages... .
   
   
3. In the Language Preference dialog box, click Add... , then select the language that you want, and click OK.

   Note: Five different encoding methods are used to process Chinese characters. You must choose the appropriate encoding method for your situation. If you are not sure which method to use, you can click all five methods. Internet Explorer automatically chooses the appropriate version for each web site. Three different encoding methods are used to process Japanese characters. All three encoding methods are processed automatically.

4. If you read several languages, you can click Add... again to add other languages. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to arrange the languages in order of priority. For web sites that offer multiple languages, the browser will display the content in the language that you've given the highest priority.
   
   
5. In the Language Preference dialog box, click OK.
   
   
6. In the Internet Options dialog box, click OK.

You will have to close and restart Internet Explorer for the change to take effect.

Internet Explorer 3.0 and 4.0

1. Select the Other Options button at the bottom of the page.
   
   
2. Select the Add-Ons page for your version of Internet Explorer, and then choose Multilanguage Support.
   
   
3. After installing and downloading each language component (you may install several), restart your computer.
   
   
4. To view the page with the appropriate character set in Internet Explorer 4.0, right-click the page. From the menu that appears, choose Language, and pick your desired language. In Internet Explorer 3.0, you will see a tiny icon in the lower right corner of your browser that looks like two flags pointing in opposite directions. Click the flag icon and you will see a list of installed languages; choose the desired language from this list.

For updates and new language packs for Internet Explorer, visit the Internet Explorer Products Download web site.

Firefox 1.0 and 1.5

Displaying languages correctly

To set Firefox to automatically try to display the correct character encoding within a particular language for web pages, follow these steps:

1. From the View menu, select Character Encoding and then Auto-Detect.
   
   
2. On the menu that appears, select the appropriate language.

To manually select the correct character encoding for a page:

1. From the View menu, select Character Encoding and then More Encodings.
   
   
2. From the list that appears, select the correct language family and then the correct character set.

Setting a preferred language

To specify which language you would like Firefox to use when a web page is supplied in more than one language:

1. From the Tools menu, select Options... .
   
   
2. On the General tab, under "Languages", click the Languages... button.
   
   
3. Click Select a language to add...  and select the language you want to add. Then click Add.
   
   
4. If you read several languages, you can click Select a language to add... again to add other languages. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to arrange the languages in order of priority, and the Remove button if you need to remove a language.
   
   
5. Click OK.

Netscape 7.x

Displaying languages correctly

To set Netscape to automatically try to display the correct character encoding within a particular language for web pages, follow these steps:

1. From the View menu, select Character Encoding and then Auto-Detect.
   
   
2. On the menu that appears, select the appropriate language.

To manually select the correct character encoding for a page:

1. From the View menu, select Character Encoding and then More.
   
   
2. From the list that appears, select the correct language family and then the correct character set.

Setting a preferred language

To specify which language you would like Netscape to use when a web page is supplied in more than one language:

1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences... .
   
   
2. In the "Category" field on the left, under Navigator, select Languages. (If Languages is not visible, click the + [plus sign] next to Navigator.)
   
   
3. Click Add... . In the resulting dialog box, select the language you want to add.
   
   
4. If you read several languages, you can click Add... again to add other languages. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to arrange the languages in order of priority.
   
   
5. Click OK.

Netscape 6.x

Displaying languages correctly

To set Netscape to automatically try to display the correct character encoding for web pages, follow these steps:

1. From the View menu, select Character Coding and then Auto-Detect.
   
   
2. Make sure that All is selected; if it is not, click to select it.

To manually select the correct character encoding for a page:

1. From the View menu, select Character Coding and then More.
   
   
2. From the list that appears, select the correct language or character set.

Setting a preferred language

To specify which language you would like Netscape to use when a web page is supplied in more than one language:

1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences... .
   
   
2. In the "Category" field on the left, under Navigator, select Languages. (If Languages is not visible, click the + [plus sign] next to Navigator.)
   
   
3. Click Add... . In the resulting dialog box, select the language you want to add.
   
   
4. If you read several languages, you can click Add... again to add other languages. Use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to arrange the languages in order of priority.
   
   
5. Click OK.

Also see:

• How can I view Japanese web pages without any special software?
• Where can I find information about Arabic versions of Microsoft software?
• In the Windows STCs, how do I change my keyboard settings to Chinese, Japanese, or Korean?