Telegram's interface language is set inside Telegram, not by your phone. You can run the app in one language and the rest of the device in another, and the change happens immediately without restarting anything.
That is more useful than it sounds for two groups of people: anyone using a phone bought abroad, and anyone learning a language.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Change the app's language independently of the phone's.
- check_circle Get back to a language you can read if you change it by mistake.
- check_circle Tell the interface language apart from message translation, which is a different feature.
- check_circle Use a community language pack, and know what that means.
The whole interface swaps in place — no restart, and right-to-left layouts mirror themselves as part of the same change.
language Two different things called language
The interface language is the words Telegram itself uses: Settings, Forward, Delete, the names of every screen. That is what this setting changes.
Translation is about other people's messages. Telegram can translate a message, or a whole chat, into a language you choose — separately, and without affecting the interface at all. People often change the first when they wanted the second.
Four reasons to change it
Including the one where you need to change it back and cannot read the screen.
phone_iphone The device is in the wrong language
school Practising
group Unofficial language packs
help You changed it and cannot read anything
Remember the shape of the path, not the words: Settings, globe, your language in its own spelling.
settings Changing it
- Open Settings, then Language It carries a globe icon, which is how you find it in any language.
- Pick from the list Official languages first, then any packs you have added.
- It applies immediately No restart, and your chats are untouched — only the interface changes.
- To translate messages instead Hold a message and choose translate, or turn on the translate bar for that chat.
- It is per account, not per device With more than one account in the app, each keeps its own.
This page is the language of the app itself. The curriculum step is the other side: translating what other people write, running a chat in two languages at once, and what a multilingual community needs from its tools.
At a glance
- 1App language
Change Telegram's language separately from your phone's.
- 2Lost in a language?
Each language is listed in its own script; find yours by its spelling.
- 3Not translation
Interface language and message translation are separate settings.
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