11.6. LyX localization

This section describes how to use LyX with any language you want. LyX comes with a default configuration which supports the English language on a U.S.-style keyboard, with a standard U.S. paper size and the spell checker set to U.S. English. You can change any or all of these settings as desired, and you can make the changes apply to the current session only, or use them as your new default configuration.

If you have a keyboard suited to the language you are using (for example, a german keyboard for writing in German), and you have correctly configured your X environment, all you need to do for LyX is tell it your language, the character encoding, and desired paper size. Refer to Section 11.6.1 for more information.

If, however, you have a U.S.-style keyboard and want to write in a different language than English, you can use an alternate keymap. For example, if you have a U.S.-style keyboard but want to write in Italian, you should configure LyX to use an Italian keymap. Refer to Section 11.5 for details.

Finally, you may just want to change a few key mappings or create an entirely different keymap (for Vulcan, for instance). You may, for example, normally write in Italian on a U.S. keyboard but want to include an occasional quotation in German. In such a case, you can write your own keyboard mapping or modify an existing one to support the characters you want.

The details of how to customize LyX to your own language are way beyond the scope of this manual. You can not only alter the keyboard layout, you can also change the names of the menus buttons, etc., to reflect your language. If you want to learn more about writing keymap files and tailoring LyX to your native tongue, please see the Customization manual for details.