How to Change the Spelling Checker's Language in Yahoo! Mail

I type "aluminium", and you look for "aluminum"; I write "color", and you suggest "colour"; you balk at "realize", and I cringe at "realise".

Even—or possibly in particular—minor differences in spelling between closely related languages and dialects can make life hard with a spelling checker and its utility naught (if not negative).

In Yahoo! Mail, chances are you need not wrestle with the spelling checker's suggestions: you can choose not only from languages but also often from a tongue's principal flavors and dialects. Helpfully, Yahoo! Mail can also take a look at a message you are composing — and determine the language in which it is predominantly written.

You, in turn, can pick the spelling checker's language for each message you are writing in Yahoo! Mail, of course; you can also, though, change the language set up as the checking default.

To choose the language used for checking spelling in Yahoo! Mail for an individual message you are composing:

• Start composing a message using rich-text formatting.
  • If you see ≫ (Switch to Rich Text) in the email's formatting toolbar, click it.
• Click the down arrow (Language Options) next to abc (Check Spelling) in the formatting toolbar.
• Select the language you desire for the spelling checker from the list.
  • Choose Auto-Select Spelling Language to have Yahoo! Mail pick the language used for checking spellings based on the one used predominantly in the email you compose.

To pick the language used by default for new messages' spelling checker in Yahoo! Mail:

• Hover the mouse cursor over the gear icon in your Yahoo! Mail's top navigation bar or click the gear.
• Select Account Info from the menu that appears.
• If prompted for your Yahoo! Mail account password:
  • Type the password over Password under User name and your user name.
  • Click Sign in.
• Follow the Set language, site, and time zone link under Account Settings.
• Make sure the language you would like to be the default for Yahoo! Mail's spelling checker is listed under Your Languages.
  • If you do not find it there:
    • Locate and highlight the desired language (or, perhaps, the closest options with which you can live) under Available Languages:.
  • Click the arrow pointing rightwards (➡) in the direction of Your Languages:.
• Make sure the desired language is on top of the list under Your Languages:.
  • If it is not in first place:
    • Highlight the language with the mouse button.
  • Use the upwards pointing arrow (⬆) until the language you want to use for checking your emails' spelling is on top under Your Languages:.
  • Note that changing languages and their ranking under Your Languages: will change not only the spelling checker language but also the user interface language for many a Yahoo! site — including Yahoo! Mail itself.

(Updated October 2013)