How to Change Language in League of Legends: 3 Methods That Work in 2026

You can change language in League of Legends through a Riot Client dropdown, a YAML config edit, or a desktop shortcut with a locale flag. Most people try the first one, set everything to Japanese, and then get confused when Ahri is still talking in English mid-game. That is because text and voice are controlled by two different settings. More on that in a second.

All three methods work on Patch 26.07 as of April 2026. I ran through each of them on NA and EUW before writing this. There is also a full locale code table further down the page because I got tired of Googling “ja_JP or jp_JA” every time I wanted to change language in League of Legends on a new account.

Wait, LoL Has Two Separate Language Settings?

Yep. This trips up almost everybody.

League of Legends (LoL) runs two independent language layers. The first one is your Riot Client language. Menus, buttons, patch notes, the store, friend list, basically everything you see before clicking “Play.” The second one is in-game language: champion voice lines, the announcer shouting “double kill,” ability tooltips, item shop text while you are in a match.

Switch one, and the other stays exactly where it was. So you can end up with a Japanese client but hear English voice lines in game. Or the opposite. Riot split them because each voice pack weighs hundreds of megabytes (we are talking 170+ champions with multiple lines each), and downloading them all would bloat your install by several gigs.

This video walks through the whole process if you prefer watching over reading:

Method 1: Riot Client Settings (30 Seconds, Zero Risk)

Riot added an official language toggle back in late 2023. Before that, you had to mess with config files for everything. So now you can change text language straight from the client, which is way easier.

1. Open the Riot Client. Log out first. Some settings lock if you are signed in, and this is one of them.
2. Hit the little profile icon up in the top-right corner.
3. Click Settings.
4. On the left side, pick League of Legends.
5. You will see a Game Text Language dropdown. Pick whatever you want.
6. Close settings. The client downloads a tiny patch (usually under a minute) and restarts.

That is it. Your client UI and some in-game text will switch over. Voice lines stay the same, though. For those, keep reading.

Heads up though: the dropdown is region-locked. On NA you only see English, Spanish (MX), and French. EUW is better off with German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Want Korean on an NA account? You are not going to find it here. Skip straight to Method 2.

Method 2: Editing LeagueClientSettings.yaml

Want Korean text on your NA account? Or Japanese on EUNE? The dropdown will not help you here. But if you edit the config file directly, you can force any locale regardless of region.

1. Close the Riot Client for real. Not minimize. Not X. Actually sign out and kill RiotClientServices.exe from the system tray if it is still hanging around.
2. Open up File Explorer (Win+E if you are lazy like me). Then find your League folder at C:\Riot Games\League of Legends. Installed it somewhere else? Go there instead.
3. Open Config.
4. Right-click LeagueClientSettings.yaml, open it with Notepad.
5. Scroll through the file until you see locale: followed by a code like en_US. Replace that code with the one you want. Japanese? Type ja_JP. Korean? ko_KR. Full list of codes further down this page.
6. Ctrl+S, close Notepad, done with this part.

Launch the Riot Client again. It should then load in your chosen language. If it snaps back to English on the next restart, combine this with Method 3 below (the shortcut trick) to make it stick.

Do not touch the region line. I cannot stress this enough. I have seen people on r/leagueoflegends change region: thinking it is related, and their client started re-downloading assets for a completely different server. Only edit locale: and nothing else.

Method 3: Desktop Shortcut Trick (For Voice Lines)

This is what you need if you want Yasuo screaming “Hasagi” in Japanese or the Korean announcer going off on your pentakill. Been using this since Season 12 on multiple accounts. Patches come and go, method still works.

1. Open C:\Riot Games\League of Legends in File Explorer.
2. Scroll down to LeagueClient.exe. Right-click it, hit Create Shortcut.
3. Drag that shortcut onto your desktop.
4. Now right-click that new desktop shortcut and open Properties.
5. There is a Target field with a file path in quotes. Click at the very end of that line, right after the last " mark. Then type a space followed by --locale=XX_XX. Obviously replace XX_XX with whatever code you need.

Korean example (because like 80% of people doing this want Korean):

"C:\Riot Games\League of Legends\LeagueClient.exe" --locale=ko_KR

6. Click Apply. Click OK.
7. Open League from this shortcut every time. Not the Riot tray icon. Not clicking “Play” inside the launcher. The shortcut on your desktop.

Patches sometimes reset this and it is annoying. Your language flips back to English out of nowhere. If that happens, open the shortcut Properties, go to General tab, tick Read-only. That locks the file so the client cannot overwrite your locale flag when it starts up.

All Language Codes for League of Legends

Here is every locale code I know works. Stick them in the YAML file or the shortcut Target. I saved this list as a Chrome bookmark because I mix up ja_JP and jp_JA literally every single time.

Language	Code	Language	Code
English (US)	en_US	English (UK)	en_GB
English (AU)	en_AU	Japanese	ja_JP
Korean	ko_KR	Chinese (Simplified)	zh_CN
Chinese (Traditional)	zh_TW	French	fr_FR
German	de_DE	Spanish (Spain)	es_ES
Spanish (Mexico)	es_MX	Italian	it_IT
Portuguese (Brazil)	pt_BR	Russian	ru_RU
Turkish	tr_TR	Polish	pl_PL
Romanian	ro_RO	Hungarian	hu_HU
Greek	el_GR	Czech	cs_CZ

Fair warning: not every code works on every server. EUW and EUNE support the most languages. If you punch in a code and the client just dies or loads English anyway, that pack does not exist for your region. Delete LeagueClientSettings.yaml from the Config folder to reset everything.

Languages by Server Region

Nobody else seems to document this properly, so here you go. This table shows what you get natively from the Riot Client dropdown, before using any workaround.

Server	Default	Other Options in Dropdown
NA	English (US)	Spanish (MX), French, Portuguese (BR)
EUW	English (UK)	German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese
EUNE	English (UK)	Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Czech, Turkish
BR	Portuguese (BR)	English (US), Spanish
LAN	Spanish (MX)	English (US), Portuguese
LAS	Spanish (MX)	English (US), Portuguese
TR	Turkish	English (UK)
RU	Russian	English (UK)
JP	Japanese	English (US)
KR	Korean	None
OCE	English (AU)	English (US)

If your target language is not in the dropdown for your server, then Method 2 or 3 comes in. The shortcut trick bypasses these restrictions completely.

Mac Users: How to Do It Without Shortcuts

macOS does not let you change language in League of Legends with shortcut targets the way Windows does. But there is still a workaround, and it uses Automator.

Open Automator from Launchpad. Pick Application as the type. Search for Run Shell Script and drag it into the workflow. Paste this command:

Drop this into the script box:

open /Applications/League\ of\ Legends.app/Contents/LoL/LeagueClient.app --args --locale=ja_JP

That ja_JP at the end is the language code. Swap it for Korean (ko_KR), Chinese (zh_CN), or whatever. Save the Automator app to your desktop and use that to open League from now on.

Automator not cooperating? Plan B: right-click League of Legends in your Applications folder, “Show Package Contents,” hunt for system.yaml somewhere in the directory tree. Open it in TextEdit. Find the locale lines. Edit. Save. Relaunch League.

Epic Games Store Installs

Some players grabbed League through the Epic Games Store instead of the Riot installer. If that is you: open Epic, click your profile, go to Settings, then change language. But fair warning, that only swaps the Epic launcher UI. It does nothing to the actual game. So if you want to change LoL itself, you still need the shortcut trick or config edit.

Change Language in League of Legends on Garena (Southeast Asia)

Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan… all Garena. Completely different launcher. The three Riot Client methods above? Useless here. You need a third-party tool to change language in League of Legends on Garena.

There is a tool on GitHub called League of Legends Language Changer. You point it at your Garena LoL folder, pick a language, and then launch the game through the tool. One thing that will annoy you though: Garena’s login token dies after about 5 minutes. If you take too long setting things up, the client freezes on the login screen. Just close it all and try again faster.

Also expect these tools to break after big patches. Check the GitHub page for updates whenever Riot drops a new version.

Wild Rift: Way Simpler

If you are on mobile playing League of Legends: Wild Rift, then forget everything above. Wild Rift just uses your phone’s system language.

iOS: Settings app on your phone > scroll until you find Wild Rift > tap Language > done.

Android: Depends on your phone. Newer Androids (13+) let you do per-app language under Settings > Apps > Wild Rift > Language, which is nice. But on older versions? You are stuck changing the entire phone’s language. Annoying, but it still works. Restart Wild Rift after either way.

The available languages: English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese. That is it. No Turkish, no Polish, no Romanian. Way smaller list than PC, but if you want Korean or Japanese VO, it is still there.

How to Switch Back to Your Original Language

Switched to Korean for the vibes and now your entire client is a wall of characters you cannot read? Yeah. I did this once at 2am and spent 15 minutes navigating menus by muscle memory. Here is what to do.

Fastest fix: Open C:\Riot Games\League of Legends\Config\ in File Explorer and just straight up delete LeagueClientSettings.yaml. Gone. The client then creates a brand new one when it boots up, and it defaults to whatever language your server normally uses. None of your account stuff gets touched, just that one config file resets.

Shortcut method? Even easier. Right-click your shortcut, open Properties, then look at the Target line. See the --locale=XX_XX bit at the end? Delete it. Apply. Relaunch. You are back to default.

Nothing works? Then reinstall. Yeah, it takes a while, but your account lives on Riot’s servers anyway. Fresh install, clean config, default language. Problem solved.

Also, if you run Deceive (the “appear offline” tool), it kills RiotClientServices.exe in the background. That can reset your locale back to default every single time. So disable Deceive while you are sorting out language settings.

Why Bother Switching Languages?

There are actually some good reasons beyond “I just want my native language back.”

Japanese and Korean VO. Probably the #1 reason people look this up. The JP voice acting for Ahri, Yasuo, and Akali is a completely different vibe. Korean VO makes everything sound like an LCK broadcast. I switched to Korean for a couple months last year, and it genuinely felt like I was playing a different game. One r/leagueoflegends user said they did the same thing after 6 years on English and called it “the best decision they made in League.” Sounds dramatic, but I get it.

Language practice. If you already dump 3+ hours a day into this game, you might as well learn something while you are at it. Ability descriptions, item names, pings, the shop interface… it is all free immersion. Since you already know what everything does from playing in English, you pick up vocab through context. I tried French for a few weeks and genuinely learned words like “bouclier” (shield) and “lame” (blade) just from reading item tooltips.

Muting tilt. This one is lowkey genius. A few people on Reddit said that switching to a language they do not speak actually helped them stop reading toxic chat. When you cannot understand what your 0/7 Yasuo is typing, you just… play. I am still not sure I would recommend it for everyone. But the logic checks out.

The downside is real, though. Announcer calls you do not understand = information you miss. Inhibitor timers, Baron spawns, shutdown gold, all of that comes through audio cues. In a ranked game, missing a call can cost a fight. I once blanked on a Baron announcement in Korean because the sound just did not register. So maybe do not go full Korean for your promo series.

Common Problems When You Change Language in League of Legends

Same questions pop up on the League subreddit every patch cycle. Here are fixes that actually work.

“It keeps switching back to English.” 9 times out of 10 you are clicking the Riot Client tray icon instead of your custom shortcut. The tray icon does not care about your locale flag. Use the shortcut. And right-click it > Properties > General > tick Read-only so the client stops messing with it. Oh, and someone on r/leagueoflegends found out that “Start Riot Client on Startup” auto-launches the client on boot and wipes your config. Kill that setting.

“Client crashes the second I change locale.” That language pack does not exist on your server. So go delete LeagueClientSettings.yaml from Config, let the client rebuild it, then try a different code.

“Changed language but champion voices are still English.” Yep, you used Method 1. That is text only. Voice lines need Method 3 (the shortcut). Two different systems, always have been.

“Everything is in Korean and I cannot find Settings.” Delete LeagueClientSettings.yaml from C:\Riot Games\League of Legends\Config\. Restart. Back to default.

“Half the client changed, half stayed in the old language.” Caching issue. Hit the Repair button in Riot Client (the little wrench icon next to Play). That forces a clean re-download of all language files.

“Went Korean but there are no voices, just silence.” The voice pack did not download. Open C:\Riot Games\League of Legends\locales\ in File Explorer and see if there is a file called ko_KR.pak (or whatever language you picked). If it is not there, that is your problem. Run Repair from the Riot Client while the shortcut with --locale is still active, and it should grab the missing pack.

“Does this change my server or ping?” Nah. Language and server are separate things. Korean VO on NA? Your packets still go to Chicago. Zero ping difference. Someone posts this rumor on Reddit every couple months. Ignore it.

If you want native language support without any workarounds, you could also pick up a LoL smurf account on the server you need. A JP or KR account comes with that region’s default language out of the box, so zero config edits needed.

Will Riot Ever Add a Simple Language Toggle?

For years now. The client dropdown from 2023 was still a solid upgrade over the old “pray your YAML edit sticks” days. But a proper one-click voice toggle? Not happening yet. We are on Patch 26.07 and it is still nowhere.

Riot Brightmoon talked about this in a dev blog. The blocker is raw file size. Voice packs for 170+ champions in LoL across 20 languages add up to a stupid amount of gigabytes. Since the client right now cannot stream audio assets on the fly, Riot would need to rebuild how the whole thing loads sound files before they could ship a toggle. That is not a small project.

So the shortcut method is it for now. Unofficial? Sure. Janky? A little. But it has worked for 5+ years straight and nobody has ever caught a ban for it. I will take those odds.

Quick Summary: Which Method to Change Language in League of Legends?

Goal	Method	Difficulty
Change client text only	Method 1 (Riot Client dropdown)	Easy
Use a language your server does not offer	Method 2 (YAML config edit)	Medium
Change champion voices and announcer	Method 3 (shortcut –locale flag)	Medium
Change text + voices together	Methods 2 + 3 combined	Medium
Mac	Automator app or system.yaml edit	Medium
Garena (SEA)	GitHub Language Changer tool	Medium
Wild Rift (mobile)	Phone system language	Easy

FAQ

How do I change the text language in League of Legends?

Open the Riot Client without logging in, click your profile icon in the top-right corner, go to Settings, select League of Legends from the left menu, and pick your preferred language from the Game Text Language dropdown. Restart the client to apply.

Can I change the voice language in LoL without changing the text?

Yes. Create a shortcut to LeagueClient.exe and add --locale=XX_XX to the Target field (replace XX_XX with the language code you want). That changes in-game audio independently from the Riot Client text.

Will I get banned for changing the language in League of Legends?

Very unlikely. It gives zero competitive advantage. Riot has never confirmed banning a single player over locale modifications. Just stick to editing the locale value and do not mess with anything else in the game files.

What is the language code for Korean in League of Legends?

The Korean code is ko_KR. Your shortcut Target should look like: "C:\Riot Games\League of Legends\LeagueClient.exe" --locale=ko_KR

Why does my LoL language keep resetting?

You are launching from the Riot Client icon instead of your custom shortcut. The tray icon ignores your locale flag. Always open League from the modified shortcut. Set it to Read-only (Properties > General tab) so the client cannot overwrite it.

Can I change the language on Mac?

Yes. Open Automator, create an Application, add a Run Shell Script block, and enter the League launch command with your locale code. Save to desktop and launch from there.

How do I change language in Wild Rift?

Wild Rift uses your phone’s system language. On iOS, go to Settings > Wild Rift > Language. On Android, change your phone language or use per-app language settings if your device supports it.

That covers every way to change language in League of Legends on PC, Mac, Garena, and mobile. For more LoL guides, check out our breakdown of how the League of Legends ranked system works, or pick up some tips from our guide on playing like Ruler. You can also test your current MMR with our free MMR checker tool before your next ranked grind.

Got client issues after a patch? Our LoL Ethernet troubleshooting guide covers the most common fixes.

Last updated: April 2026

Sources: Riot Games official site