I don't want "universal" language input change

[apos]

Hello guys, new to your forum and new to mac! 😀
I have a rather unimportant, but still frustrating issue here. Maybe it is silly for me to ask, so don't laugh! 🙂

As a windows users for many years, I was used to the following "behavior" that I miss so much in mac:
I want every app to "remember" its current language input. And I don't mean that it should remeber it on osx boot, but after I open it and switch language input.

I'm from Greece and it happens often that I write something in Pages in greek and have a safari window open eg to chat in facebook, in english. If I change the language input to greek when in Pages, this change will apply to Safari too, which had english input, and vice versa. Of course, this is an example, it happens with every app combination.

I' m sure it must be something obvious that I'm missing, but could someone help me please? 🙂
thanks a lot!

 

[velocityg4]

You may want to try input switcher to set input methods on a per program basis. From what I have read Leopard no longer has a setting for setting input methods on a per program basis. Be sure to install both files.

Your Multilingual Mac has lots of info on multiple languages and Mac OS X. You may want to check out the localization section to also set each programs display language (menus, help dialogue). I did not find this section truly clear though. So I will summarize

Setting display language per program
- Not the same as input
- Set order of preferred languages by dragging them up down the language list in the Language in International within System Preferences.
- To set the display language manually for a specific program. Navigate to the program you wish to set which is usually in the Applications folder. Highlight the program (single click) and go to File -> Get Info. Click on the languages tab and uncheck all languages that are not your primary language choice. In your case just leave Greek checked.
- Most programs only have one language choice. You will need to find a localized version or additional languages for your program online.

Apple's ADC page for localization I don't know if this will be of any use to you.

 

[Makosuke]

It's interesting, because your desired behavior, current keyboard setting remembered by the app, was the default up through OSX 10.3. They added the systemwide "sticky" version in 10.4, but as velocityg4 said, had an option to switch between the two.

Why they removed the switch in 10.5 I do not understand--it's something pretty critical for multilingual users that really shouldn't confuse single-language folks at all. Now, I personally vastly prefer the systemwide setting (it reduces confusion for the way I work when a background app remembers the last language I was using but I've forgotten I'd switched it), but it's obviously going to have a lot to do with how you personally think and work.

Definitely going to have to note the workaround linked by velocityg4, though I do so hope Apple puts the toggle back in 10.6 (or even a 10.5 update, though I doubt that more).

This may not help you, but what I do is override the standard command-space systemwide shortcut for Spotlight and set it to switch between the last two input methods. This way you can very quickly switch without even moving your hands on the keyboard.

It's what works for me, anyway.

 

[magamo]

Like Makosuke, I set option+space for changing languages between English and Japanese. It's so easy I don't feel a need to set a language for each app on my Mac. If you have a lot of apps you use monolingually, then you might not find it useful, though.