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Spell check in multiple languages with Firefox

·256 words·2 mins·
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Damir Kalić via Unsplash

Bienvenidos!1 I’ve been learning Spanish for just over a year and I often type messages in either Spanish or English (my native language) with coworkers and friends. Just like most people, I make spelling mistakes in both languages. 🙃

Firefox offers a feature for multi-language spell checking and translations but it can be a bit challenging to set up. This post explains how to load languages into Firefox and use them for spell checking.

Installing languages #

Take a trip over to [Dictionaries and Languages Packs] on Mozilla’s site. Note that there are two columns available to you here:

  • Language packs give you the option to change your interface language to something different than your system’s default language.
  • Dictionaries help with checking spelling.

In the second column, click on the language you want to add for checking spelling. In my case, I picked the Spanish (Spain) Dictionary along with the Spanish (Mexico) Dictionary. Install the dictionaries you want just like any other add-on!

Go to the about:addons page in Firefox and you should see your languages under Languages and Dictionaries on the left side.

Enable the language #

Find an input field and right click inside the field. You should see a Languages context menu appear. Roll over that menu and a new menu pops out to the side:

context_menu.png
Firefox context menu showing multiple languages

Click the checkbox to enable the languages that you want to use with the spell checker. That takes effect immediately!

Gracias por leer hasta aquí!2 😜


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