System Preferences: Language & Text preferences: Language pane

Use the Language pane of Language & Text preferences to select the language you most want to see in menus and dialogs, and choose an option for sorted lists.

OPTION	DESCRIPTION
Languages	If an application supports the first language in the list, its menus and dialogs will appear in that language. If it doesn’t support the first language, it will use the second language in the list, and so forth. If you don’t see the language you want to use in the list, click Edit List.
Order for sorted lists	You can sort items in Finder windows by name, date modified, size, and so forth. The language you choose in this menu influences how the Finder sorts items by name.

These language settings may also change the language used in other parts of an application or in the text you see on some websites.

System Preferences: Language & Text: Text

Use the Text pane of Language & Text preferences to set options for entering text, such as replacing text with symbols or other text, setting the languages used to check spelling, and setting word break and smart quote preferences.

OPTION	DESCRIPTION
Symbol and Text Substitution	In some applications, such as TextEdit, iChat, and iMovie, you can automatically replace text with other text or symbols. (In the application, choose Edit > Substitutions, and select Text Replacement.) Select an item in this list to have it automatically replaced with the symbol or alternate text to the right of it. For example, if you select the (c) checkbox, when you type (c) it will be replaced with © in your document.
Spelling	In many applications you can check your spelling as you type. Choose the language(s) you want to use to check your spelling from this pop-up menu.
Word Break	This setting changes how a word is highlighted when it’s double-clicked. For most users, Standard is the appropriate setting. However, if you’re using Japanese as your primary language (your primary language appears at the top of the list in the Language pane), you should choose Japanese. The English (United States, Computer) setting is for programmers who often use combined words, such as “aKey:aValue,” and want to highlight only a portion of the word when it’s double-clicked.
Smart Quotes	In some applications, such as TextEdit, iChat, and iMovie, you can change how quotation marks appear when you type a single or double quotation mark. To use this feature, Smart Quotes must be turned on in the application you’re using. (In the application, choose Edit > Substitutions, and select Smart Quotes.) From the first pop-up menu, choose which quote style you want to use when you type double quotation marks. From the second pop-up menu, choose which quote style you want to use when you type single quotation marks.