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angelmb · Nov 7, 2009, 06:36 AM

Long history made short, I need to install the same version of certain Adobe apps on my Mac in both, english and spanish languages. Thing is no matter how hard I try it, I can't find a way. As long as there is already one copy of a given Adobe app installed, the setup app doesn't let you to install it in a different language.

I have even tried to install them as english from CS4 Design Edition and as spanish from the Master Collection trial which is a whooping 9 GB download. But given the installed items are listed dimmed you can't go any further.

Sure, you could try to reinstall them as if they were faulty and change the default language at that point, but then those apps already installed are nuked… which you would prevent by moving them to elsewhere in order to prevent this, but then a plethora of errors are shown when launching the apps, no matter the default language.

Why oh why couldn't these 'creative' apps behave like most OS X apps?. Quark does.

slugslugslug · Nov 7, 2009, 01:23 PM

I didn’t think most OS X apps use multiple copies of the app for different languages. Here’s what I always thought is the standard OS X way of doing things (though I could be wrong since I don’t use multiple languages):

Install one copy of the app, which should have localization strings built into it. If you want to switch languages, go into the International (or Language & Text in Snow Leopard) pane of System Preferences, Language tab, then drag languages to change the default order. Quit and relauch your app and it should show up in whatever language you’ve just dragged to the top of the list.

Am I missing something?

Art Vandelay · Nov 7, 2009, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by slugslugslug

Am I missing something?

Yeah. Reread the original message, specifically the last sentence.

slugslugslug · Nov 7, 2009, 03:39 PM

Oh, I guess I didn’t understand what that sentence meant. I thought the OP was saying that the default way of doing things is to have a completely separate version of the app for every language and have both copies available at the same time.

I guess what he’s saying is that Adobe doesn’t use the localized strings, so when you install the English version of the program, you can never see the menus in another language. If so, that’s remarkably stupid, and I don’t know what you should do other than write to Adobe (and/or perhaps comment on some of their company blogs).

Spheric Harlot · Nov 7, 2009, 03:43 PM

Well, his solution was to start a thread about it, so here we all are.

Also, bung Microsoft Office onto the idiots' heap, as well.

But then, they're not even capable of copying the window toolbar in any decent conceptual way (try customizing it for a good laugh), so who's surprised.

angelmb · Nov 7, 2009, 05:20 PM

Install one copy of the app, which should have localization strings built into it. If you want to switch languages, go into the International (or Language & Text in Snow Leopard) pane of System Preferences, Language tab, then drag languages to change the default order. Quit and relauch your app and it should show up in whatever language you’ve just dragged to the top of the list.

For 10.5 and before it is even easier. Get Info for a given app, and uncheck all the languages but the one you actually want your app to run in, this way you could run Mac OS X in English, Safari in Spanish, Mail in German, Keynote in Finnish… all at once.

Originally Posted by slugslugslug

I guess what he’s saying is that Adobe doesn’t use the localized strings, so when you install the English version of the program, you can never see the menus in another language.

Exactly. There are no nib files inside the lproj folder for any given language. Just a infoplist.strings file 4 KB in size.

If so, that’s remarkably stupid, and I don’t know what you should do other than write to Adobe (and/or perhaps comment on some of their company blogs).

I guess their advice is going to be to install CS3 for a given language and CS4 for another language, which is not what I want.

Thanks anyway.

slugslugslug · Nov 7, 2009, 07:48 PM

Yeah, I wasn’t saying they’d tell you a way to fix it now, but maybe if you register your dissatisfaction, they’ll consider making that change for the next rev.

Spheric Harlot · Nov 7, 2009, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by slugslugslug

Yeah, I wasn’t saying they’d tell you a way to fix it now, but maybe if you register your dissatisfaction, they’ll consider making that change for the next rev.

Doubtful.

They must make tremendous revenue on gouging the European market.

slugslugslug · Nov 8, 2009, 09:25 AM

But if there’s no way to get multiple installations with different languages on a computer (or at least, on a Mac), how would there be any extra revenue for them? Doesn’t seem like their nonstandard language support, by angelmb’s description, should lead to them selling more copies.

Spheric Harlot · Nov 8, 2009, 10:57 AM

I'm talking about GOUGING, not extra sales:

CS4 Master Collection US Store: $2,500 excl. taxes.

CS4 Master Collection German Store: $4,450 excl. taxes.

If the thing were multilingual, what do you think users would do?

TETENAL · Nov 8, 2009, 12:18 PM

The same thing they do now, pirate it?

slugslugslug · Nov 8, 2009, 01:04 PM

Ouch. But I thought angelmb said the installer was multilingual. As in, you buy the suite from wherever and you can get any language you want, but you just can’t change it after the fact unless you uninstall/reinstall. In which case, it seems like you could just buy it from the U.S. store and use it in German.

Or am I missing something else now?

Spheric Harlot · Nov 8, 2009, 01:09 PM

The installers are not, afaik, multilingual.

Buying from the US is a) subject to shipping constraints (quite likely that distributors/dealers simply aren't permitted to ship abroad), b) subject to import duties, and c) difficult to get a tax-writeoff for.

angelmb · Nov 8, 2009, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by slugslugslug

Ouch. But I thought angelmb said the installer was multilingual. As in, you buy the suite from wherever and you can get any language you want, but you just can’t change it after the fact unless you uninstall/reinstall.

That's true. The CS4 you can buy there in the States comes with English, Spanish and French as languages you can choose from to install.

While the Euro CS4 trial I had downloaded comes with the languages shown below,

Since Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop were already installed from the Master Collection (bottom image), they are shown dimmed in the Design Premium installer (top image).