League of Legends boasts over a dozen supported languages to assist this broad player base. And while it can be confusing to change your language, it is possible. If you want to modify the language for your League game client, here’s everything you need to know.
How to change your language in League
Riot offers two options regarding changing your language in League. You can either change your in-game language or your Riot client language. One option is way more tricky than the other.
How to change your Riot client language
First, let’s dive into the easier feature—switching your Riot client language. It will only impact the client’s language to simplify navigation, but it won’t help you in a game since the in-game language will stay the same. Some of the languages you can choose on the client from include the following:
- English (US/PH/SG)
- Japanese
- Dutch
- Italian
- French
- German
- and many more.
Changing your League client’s language is easy and requires you to complete the following steps:
- Open your Riot client, and make sure that you’re signed out.
- Click on the profile icon in the top right-hand corner and select Settings
- Under Riot client language, choose your preferred language
We recommend changing your client’s language only to those you’re familiar with. If you encounter a League of Legends error, then its text will also be displayed in your client’s language.
How to change your language in-game
Unfortunately, changing the language in League is not as simple as selecting an in-game setting. If you want to change your League language, you must modify a file, but don’t worry, it’s still relatively easy.
It should be noted that modifying League’s files in any way is against Riot’s terms of service.
However, changing your client’s language offers no in-game benefit over your opponents, so it’s doubtful any action will be taken against your account (we won’t snitch, don’t worry). With that out of the way, here are the six steps to change your League language.
1) Open the League of Legends Installation Directory
First, by default, you must open the League installation directory, C:/Riot Games/League of Legends. However, if you installed the game on another drive or in a different folder, head there instead.
2) Create your League client shortcut
Second, you must right-click “LeagueClient” and create a shortcut. Then, drag the shortcut to your desktop.
3) Select League client Properties
Third, you’ll want to right-click the “LeagueClient” shortcut on your desktop and select “Properties.”
4) Navigate and change the “Target” field
Fourth, you’ll want to type in the “Target” field. Put one space after “D:\Riot Games\League of Legends\LeagueClient.exe” and add “–locale=X”
You want to have your target as: “D:\Riot Games\League of Legends\LeagueClient.exe” –locale=X
5) Replace ‘X’ with a five-character League language code
Step five is to replace the “X” after locale with your desired language’s five-character language code. The League five-character legend codes include:
| Language | Code |
|---|---|
| Japanese | ja_JP |
| Korean | ko_KR |
| Chinese | zh_CN |
| Taiwanese | zh_TW |
| Spanish (Spain) | es_ES |
| Spanish (Latin America) | es_MX |
| English | en_GB, en_AU, en_US |
| French | fr_FR |
| German | de_DE |
| Italian | it_IT |
| Polish | pl_PL |
| Romanian | ro_RO |
| Greek | el_GR |
| Portuguese | pt_BR |
| Hungarian | hu_HU |
| Russian | ru_RU |
| Turkish | tr_TR |
For example, If you’d like to change your language to Korean, you’d change your Target field to: “D:\Riot Games\League of Legends\LeagueClient.exe” –locale=ko_KR and so on.
6) Apply your changes
Finally, apply these changes for step six and use the shortcut you’ve created to open League. Your language should be set to the one you’ve chosen. And if you wish to switch back—or to another language—you’ll have to repeat the steps shown above. It’s important to note you cannot put in a different five-character language code in the shortcut you’ve already created, as it won’t change the language a second time.
So, if you want to change your language in League, these are the two ways.
Changing League language, summarized
You won’t be able to change your preferred language in League just with a setting. You’ll have to open the League directory and code.
- Open the Directory
- Create a League client shortcut
- Open the League client properties
- Change the target field
- Type in a five-digit code for your preferred language
- Apply your changes
Once you’ve done all that, you’ll successfully change your language in League of Legends. However, you can also change the language in the Riot client itself by utilizing the following steps:
- Open your Riot client, and sign out
- Click on the profile icon in the top right-hand corner and select Settings
- Under Riot client language, choose your preferred language
Will there be an easier option to change the language in League?
According to Riot, a new, more straightforward method was coming, as they announced earlier in 2023. Since then, no update has been provided on this feature, leaving players to speculate whether it will ever come. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.
Whether you accidentally changed your client language or an error occurred, this is everything you need to know about changing your language in League.
