Help:Multilingual support for Android

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Not all Android devices come with a complete set of Unicode fonts.

If you wish to install additional fonts, you will likely need to root your device.

Check

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The following sections will let you check to see what scripts are installed properly on your device.

Alphabets

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Main page: Help:Multilingual support

Latin: If you're reading this, you already have Latin installed on your device.

Script Correct rendering Your computer
Cyrillic File:Example of Cyrillic text.png Кирилица
Greek File:Example of Greek text.png Ελληνικό
Georgian File:Example of Georgian text.png ქართული
Armenian File:Example of Armenian text.png Հայերեն
Arabic File:Example of Arabic text.png أبجدية عربية
Hebrew File:Example of Hebrew text.png אלפבית עברי

Other

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Main page: Help:Multilingual support (Ethiopic)
Script Correct rendering Your computer
Ethiopic File:Example of Ethiopic text.png ግዕዝ ፊደል
Thaana File:Example of Thaana text.png ތާނަ އަލިފުބާގެ ތަރުތީބު

Indic

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Main page: Help:Multilingual support (Indic)
Script
Correct rendering Your computer
Devanagari File:Complex Text Rendering - Devanagari.svg क + ि → कि
Tamil File:Complex Text Rendering - Tamil.svg க + ே → கே
Gujarati File:Complex Text Rendering - Gujarati.svg ક + િ → કિ
Gurmukhi File:Complex Text Rendering - Gurmukhi.svg ਕ + ਿ → ਕਿ
Kannada File:Complex Text Rendering - Kannada.svg ಕ + ಿ → ಕಿ
Telugu File:Complex Text Rendering - Telugu.svg య + ీ → యీ
Bengali,
Assamese 		File:Complex Text Rendering - Bengali.svg ক + ি → কি
Malayalam File:Complex Text Rendering - Malayalam.svg ക + െ → കെ
Tibetan File:Complex Text Rendering - Tibetan.svg ར + ྐ + ྱ → རྐྱ
Sinhala File:Complex Text Rendering - Sinhala.svg ඵ + ේ → ඵේ
Odia File:Complex Text Rendering - Odia.svg କ + େ → କେ
Thai File:Complex Text Rendering - Thai.svg ฐ + ู → ฐู
Lao File:Complex Text Rendering - Lao.svg ກ + ົ + ້ → ກົ້
Khmer File:Examples.of.complex.text.rendering.Khmer.svg ម + ្ + ស + ៅ → ម្សៅ
Burmese File:Complex Text Rendering - Burmese.svg ဃ + ြ → ဃြ
Javanese File:Examples.of.complex.text.rendering.Javanese.png ꦧ + ꦾ + ꦺ + ꦴ + ꦂ → ꦧꦾꦺꦴꦂ
Balinese File:Examples.of.complex.text.rendering.Balinese.png ᬩ + ᭄ + ᬬ + ᬾ + ᬵ + ᬃ → ᬩ᭄ᬬᭀᬃ
Sundanese File:Examples.of.complex.text.rendering.Sundanese.png ᮘ + ᮡ + ᮦ + ᮁ → ᮘᮡᮦᮁ

East Asian

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Main page: Help:Multilingual support (East Asian)
Script Correct rendering Your computer
Traditional Chinese File:Chinesetexttest.png

人人生來自由，
在尊嚴和權利上一律平等。
他們有理性和良心，
請以手足關係的精神相對待。

Simplified Chinese File:SimChinesetexttest.png

人人生来自由，
在尊严和权利上一律平等。
他们有理性和良心，
请以手足关系的精神相对待。

Japanese File:Japanese text test.svg

すべての人間は、生まれながらにして自由であり、
かつ、尊厳と権利と について平等である。
人間は、理性と良心とを授けられており、
互いに同胞の精神をもって行動しなければならない。

Korean File:Korean text test.svg

모든 인간은 태어날 때부터
자유로우며 그 존엄과 권리에
있어 동등하다. 인간은 천부적으로
이성과 양심을 부여받았으며 서로
형제애의 정신으로 행동하여야 한다.

Keyboards

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If you plan to use multiple languages in Android, or to edit articles on Wikipedia on foreign languages that require scripts, chances are you will need to install a new keyboard, that can easily switch between settings without forcing you to return to settings. Fortunately, there are several free keyboards available for Android which will allow you to do this.

There are also several other free multilingual keyboards which come with experimental input methods:

Comparison

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Comparison of native support and available plugins for each keyboard. Note that not all plugins may work without installing a suitable font.

Alphabet EazyType Language AnySoft Go Han Honso ML Amidos ML Adaptxt Hacker's Slide IT TouchPal
Latin Azerbaijani --- --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native --- --- --- ---
French Plugin Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native --- --- Plugin ---
German Plugin Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native --- --- Plugin ---
Spanish Plugin Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native --- --- Plugin ---
Indonesian --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native --- --- Plugin ---
Turkish --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native --- --- Plugin ---
Vietnamese --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Cyrillic Russian Plugin Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native --- --- Plugin ---
Bulgarian Plugin Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- Plugin ---
Ukrainian Plugin Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native --- --- Plugin ---
Greek Plugin Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- Plugin ---
Georgian Plugin
Requires font		 Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 Native
Requires font		 --- --- --- ---
Armenian Plugin
Requires font		 --- Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Arabic Plugin --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- Plugin ---
Farsi Plugin Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- Plugin ---
Urdu --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- Plugin ---
Hebrew Hebrew --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Yiddish --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Ethiopic Amharic --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Thaana Dhivehi --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Korean --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Japanese --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Chinese (Simplified) --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Chinese (Traditional) --- Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Yi --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Devangari Hindi Plugin
Requires font		 Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Marathi --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Bengali --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Gujarati --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font
Dictionary plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Gurmukhi Punjabi --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Oriya --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Sinhala --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Kannada Plugin
Requires font		 --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Malayalam --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Tamil Plugin
Requires font		 --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Telugu --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Tibetan --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Burmese --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Khmer --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Lao Plugin
Requires font		 --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---
Thai Plugin Native Keyboard
Dictionary plugin		 Native Keyboard
Dictionary Plugin		 --- --- --- --- ---
Canadian Aboriginal --- --- Native Keyboard
Requires font		 --- --- --- --- ---


Fonts

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Chances are that your Android device will include Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic and most East-Asian fonts (except Yi), as well as Greek, Thai and Hebrew, meaning that you will be able to read, and once you have a proper keyboard, to write, languages spoken by a majority of the world's population.

However the large majority of the world's scripts are unsupported, including all Indic scripts except Thai (collectively covering India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, and Laos as well as Yi, Ge'ez, Thaana, Georgian, Armenian, and Canadian Aboriginal. While all of these alphabets except Burmese have keyboards available, they won't work unless you have the correct fonts.

And many Android devices (such as the Galaxy Tab mentioned above) do not allow you to install fonts, which will make things difficult for you. To install fonts on such devices, you will have to root them, before installing fonts. Detailed rooting instructions can be found here. Keep in mind that rooting your phone will format it, which means that it is very important to back-up your data prior to rooting.

Once your device is open, you will be able to install true-type fonts directly on your device, or use an installer from Android, such as this one for Georgian. Alternatively, you can also copy the font file into /system/fonts folder, then you edit /system/etc/fallback_fonts.xml to make your font work with many Android apps.

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