This is a feature request targeting Dorico 5 or later. (Maybe too late for Dorico 4.)
I personally prefer to use Dorico in English. However, sometimes I may have needs to show my work and / or operating procedures to my instructors on my campus. Only some of my instructors can read English. In such cases I have to restart Dorico which is time-consuming (pretty sensitive in Japanese culture to ask instructors to have patience with this).
Therefore, I am wondering whether Dorico can support switching user interface language without rebooting Dorico application itself.
P.S.: I also found Dorico 3.1.0 crashes everytime I was trying to read MusicXML files generated by “SmartScore Music-to-XML Music Notation Recognition” app (purchased from Mac App Store). If Daniel (or other Dorico dev members) have any interests in this, please let me know and I will find some time to pack up crash reports and send them to his email address.
I’m sure it would be technically possible, but I can’t see it being a high enough priority to make it worth addressing in even the medium term, I’m afraid.
Re: the MusicXML files that cause Dorico to crash, no need to send crash reports: just zip up and attach a MusicXML file that causes a crash and we’ll take a look at it.
Adding my two cents: I have no idea what the cost would be in terms of labor, time and resources, but I think that localized-from-the-English-language software should have a toggle (some “hot key”) to temporarily change the interface to English, so that one using a non-English version can quickly see what that menu item is in English. Then going to a forum or help function that is all in English would at least be possible.
In fact, I’ve wished for bi-lingual interfaces, but I guess that’d be a nightmare to make the text fit.
+1, reviving this thread seemed a better option than to create a new one.
Why? Because toggling the language could be of great help for anyone of those who are using this forum and at the same time do not speak English as their mother tongue. As English user forums tend to have a much larger user base, the probability to find an answer to a certain problem is much higher there. At the same time, using a software in one’s own mother tongue - if available - is more efficient in everyday work.
Currently I am using Dorico in English (differing from my native German) just for the sole purpose to be able to formulate my questions in this very forum most efficiently. However, while certainly improving my English skills, it noticeably impedes my workflow in Dorico itself.
P.S. So this is basically the same what EricC said, which remains true to this day.
You can at least change the language while Dorico is running (via the General page of Preferences), which became possible in Dorico 4 after it was first introduced in Dorico for iPad in the summer of 2021.
That is one very good reason, at the same time the keyboard shortcuts are built around the English language. So even for a non English mother tongue speaker it makes sense to run the application in its native language.
Example: J for Jump-bar. How is this called in German and which keyboard shortcut do you use to call it up?
I would have to look this up, admittedly. I have been using Dorico in English for over a year now and discovered the jump bar’s awesomeness just today in Anthony’s video.
Yeah, but the different keyboard layout in other languages (especially on the section directly left of the return and right shift keys) that is usually printed onto the keys makes it somewhat obscure why a certain key has been chosen for its particular function. I guess we will see keyboards with LED or E-Ink keys at some time in the future able to hot-switch along with the OS, but I think it will take even more time for them to become affordable.
I was also thinking of the more basic things cmd-p for print cmd-c for copy shift-cmd-e for Engraving options and loads more - they don’t find equivalents in other languages easily..
The language of the Properties panel will be updated as soon as you make a new selection.
I don’t think it’s worth the significant effort required to change this. The Properties panel is dynamically constructed when the selection changes, but triggering it to rebuild itself when the language changes is tricky.
