How to change the language and voiceover in League of Legends?
As League of Legends reached 100 million monthly active users across the world, it’s no surprise that the game has about two dozen translations. Riot Games, however, offer several translations per server and do not allow you to play in a remote country’s language. Naturally, this won’t stop us.
Changing LoL language Normally
If your language of preference is on the list of languages for your server, the change is easy. Sign out of your account (that is if Remember Me actually works for you) and select the language from the dropdown menu. This works best for European servers, as the developers did a solid job covering EU’s most spoken languages. You may still question the variety, but keep in mind that Riot Games recorded voiceover and committed to updating them for years to come.
This method, however, won’t work for servers that were set up for primarily single-language markets. The CIS server (RU), for example, supports only the Russian language. Players who want to play the game in a different language have to either switch servers or look for an alternative solution.
Forcing Any LoL Language
Luckily, it’s not like League’s client forgets languages that do not fit your server. With a bit of simple file manipulation, we can make the client run in any language regardless of the server. There are two methods of breaking the LoL language boundaries. While the shortcut method is superior, I’m keeping the notepad method for self-troubleshooting purposes. NB: the Korean client is accessible only through the shortcut method.
[PRESEASON 2020 NOTE]: the shortcut method may not function anymore for new installations of League of Legends.
Shortcut Method
- Log in to your server
- Close the client without signing out
- Go to …/League of Legends
- Right-click LeagueClient.exe and press Create Shortcut
- Right-click the created shortcut and press Properties
- Change Target to “C:\Riot Games\League of Legends\LeagueClient.exe” –locale=ja_JP for Japanese (consult the Locales table below)
- Start League with the new shortcut
After the first launch, you can once again run League of Legends from Start Menu. As it is, the shortcut method modifies League files to accommodate the language change. Should your client revert to the original language, keep using the shortcut.
Notepad Method
- Log in to your server
- Close the client without signing out
- Go to …/League of Legends/Config
- Open LeagueClientSettings.yaml in a text editor
- Replace the value in the locale line—the one below globals—with the value that corresponds to your designated language (see table below)
- Make sure the value in the region line matches the region code of your server (see table below).
- Start the League of Legends client*
*If launcher ignores the language change, you may have to use LeagueClient.exe from the League of Legends directory instead of the desktop shortcut. Personally, I take advantage of Start Menu on Windows 10 to avoid the hassle
Locales
| Language | Value |
| Čeština | cs_CZ |
| Deutsch | de_DE |
| English | en_US |
| English | en_GB |
| English | en_AU |
| Español | es_ES |
| Español | es_MX |
| Français | fr_FR |
| Italiano | it_ITf |
| Magyar | hu_HU |
| Polski | pl_PL |
| Português | pt_BR |
| Română | ro_RO |
| Türkçe | tr_TR |
| Ελληνικά | el_GR |
| Русский | ru_RU |
| 日本語 | ja_JP |
Regions
| Server | Value |
| Brazil | BR |
| Europe Nordic & East | EUNE |
| Europe West | EUW |
| Japan | JP |
| Korea | KR |
| Latin America North | LAN |
| Latin America South | LAS |
| North America | NA |
| Oceania | OCE |
| Russia | RU |
| Turkey | TR |
A tool to Change LoL Language
Some third-party tools allow you to automate the process of forcing languages. They basically do the thing that I’ve just described but with less input on your part. Such tools are not illegal as long as they merely edit the two config lines but anything else may put your account in jeopardy. Use third-party language tools at your own risk!
The most up-to-date tool is an open-source solution by Collin McKinney. The interface of his LeagueLocaleLauncher has exactly two lines, and it also supports the Chinese language. The tool is currently in the clear, but keep the risk of getting banned in mind!
Change LoL Voiceover but Not Text
Unfortunately, it’s currently impossible to opt for a different voiceover but keep the text in your native tongue. Even a software solution probably won’t work, as pointed out by Collin McKinney. Then again, why not take the chance to pick up some Japanese?
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How to disable the Language filter in League of Legends
You should do that in the client and not during the match. We’re looking at Settings->Chat & Friends->Enable Language Filter checkbox.
How to enable Japanese voiceover in League of Legends?
Move to Go to …/League of Legends/Config, open LeagueClientSettings.yaml in a text editor, change the value in locale to ja_JP as well as region to JP.
How to change language in League of Legends
If you want to choose a language of your region, simply sign out and do that on the login screen. Otherwise, you will have to edit a config file or look up a third-party software solution.