OS X in other languages

Is it possible to add Hungarian language support to the dozen or so built
in languages that Jag already has? I have a guest coming to visit from
Hungary for two months who doesn't speak English. It would be nice if I
could create a user account that gives her all the OS X menus and dialogs
in Hungarian. Looking on the english section on www.apple.hu has a link
to download Hungarian fonts for editing documents with Hungarian text,
but that doesn't change the OS's language. Searching on www.apple.com's
site for "hungarian language support" brings up diddly squat.

So is there a way to just download the additional language support from
somewhere and install it? I'm not interested in purchasing any
third-party language support because it would be in use for such a short
time it wouldn't be worth it.

TIA for any help.

 

It may interest you to know that Mac OS X's multi-language support means
that extra languages can be added by any motivated person who speaks the
desired language. If you speak Hungarian, and you're willing to learn a
little bit about Apple's developer tools, you could add Hungarian
support to Safari.

 

Not unless you're interested in doing the Hungarian translations
for every menu and dialog of every application yourself. It's
one of the languages Apple haven't got around to yet. However,
there's a very good change that your friend can read one of the
languages which /has/ been done.

 

You're right. She does speak/read some German, so I guess she'll have to
settle with that. Or I can install the Hungarian version of Windows 2000
and she can use that on Virtual PC. But I REALLY don't want to have to
resort to that.

 

Greetings! Udvozlom!

I just took a look at www.apple.hu, and indeed, although Mac OS X 10.2
is on sale there, it isn't a localization. (I was thinking that if there
was a localized version, you could install it on a second drive and boot
from that drive for your mother-in-law (anyos). OS X is impossibly
expensive in Hungary, BTW: 55,000 forints (that's around $200 right
now). Frankly, if I lived in Hungary I'd just pirate it. I'm sure that's
what most users do instead of paying for upgrades. (Of course, there
will be a lot of legit copies acquired with new Macs.)

You have to remember that in any small European country a lot of the
culture employs foreign languages (esp. English, German would be second
in Hungary). Ads in foreign languages in magazines, TV shows in English
with clumsy voice-over narration in Hungarian, pop music released by
Hungarian artists in English, product labels in English with only a tiny
Hungary label stuck on top, etc. The people are pretty much used to it.
The Finder doesn't require a lot of language-specific guidance, and some
apps are probably localized. It isn't a big problem to use an English
version of say Safari, since you're mainly following links anyway.

A lot depends on what your mother-in-law wants to do. You might be able
to borrow an older Windows desktop machine from a friend, or even a
laptop, and install a Hungarian version of Windows on it. Network
configuration with Hungarian dialog boxes can be tricky with no
knowledge of the language. If you have an older Mac lying around and
modern multi-media isn't necessary, you could get the Hungarian
localized version of 7.1. I'm sure I have it somewhere, and it used to
be available on Apple's ftp servers (try ftp.support.apple.com, if that
still exists).

One thing my Hungarian mother-in-law really appreciated was
internet-based Hungarian-language radio, which she would listen to when
alone. Nowadays you can surely find streaming video, either free or for
a subscription, which wouldn't be prohibitive for a limited period of
time.

George Fowler
(akinek is magyar felesege van)

 

System 7.5.3 is available:
http://www.unics.uni-hannover.de/nhtcapri/central_european.html