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Enabling Other Languages on Amazon’s New Kindle Fire tablet

Posted December 3, 2011 – 11:40 pm by Yakov Shafranovich in Programming, Projects

IMPORTANT: The source code and all future development of this application is now moved to GitHub. Please use that page in the future:

https://github.com/shaftekbiz/android-language-settings-app

—————-

One of the interesting aspects of the new Kindle Fire is how much Amazon had customized or simply overrode the default UI, including some of the settings pages. One issue that has come up recently is how to enable ability to use languages other than English. A fellow Kindle Fire in Germany, named Gero Zahn, managed to figure out how to do that by using two separate apps which trick the Kindle Fire to opening the input language settings UI page which while hidden still remains on the device. His approach is described in detail in the following blog post and the credit for discovering this goes to him:

http://blog.gerozahn.de/2011/11/kindle-fire-keyboard-layouts-solved/

I was looking for a simpler way to do this and came up with a very simple Android app using Google’s AppInventor that does just that – gives you access to the input language settings. This approach does not require installing outside applications other than this app itself. If you already have Android Market sideloaded into the Kindle, you can find the app here.

If you do not have the Market installed, you can download the app here:

http://goo.gl/NfEqO

This app is also available on the Amazon’s AppStore but it has not yet been approved for the Kindle Fire. To see this app on Amazon.com, click here.

Make sure to enable ability to load outside apps into your Kindle by tapping the top right corner of the screen to enter the settings section, then click on “Device” and check off “Allow installation” for non approved applications. I have submitted the app to the Amazon AppStore for approval as well, and hopefully it will be available directly from it.

For the technically inclined, here is a short explanation of what is happening:

Actions on Android that cross application boundaries are triggering using something called “Intents“. There are two of those that trigger language settings, of which the first (com.android.settings.LanguageSettings) has been customized by Amazon to show their own keyboard options. The second is the one that actually triggers the language selection menu and is called “com.android.inputmethod.latin.InputLanguageSelection“. The action for it is called “android.intent.action.VIEW“.

UPDATE #1:

In my testing, only the following languages work:

  • Danish
  • English UK
  • English US
  • French
  • German
  • Hebrew
  • Norwegian
  • Russian
  • Serbian
  • Swedish

UPDATE #2 – January 22nd, 2012

The app has been updated to v1.3 and it is now a fully native Android app and no longer uses App Inventor. The size has been brought down from 1.4 MBs to 22 KBs. I also added support for Android 4 (ICS). The code will be open sourced shortly. You can use Google Market to update, or the same link above.

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  1. 55 Responses to “Enabling Other Languages on Amazon’s New Kindle Fire tablet”

  2. Thanks for the shoutout! :-)

    By Gero Zahn on Dec 4, 2011

  3. Super easy. Worked perfectly. Thanks for providing this. I was afraid I was going to have to return my kindle fire without this feature.

    By Brent on Dec 5, 2011

  4. Hello,
    your Language Settings App is very helpful to me.
    Thanks!
    Do you know if it is possible to install a dictionary in other languages (Italian)?
    Best regards
    Mike

    By michelangelo on Dec 12, 2011

  5. I don’t know, sorry

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Dec 12, 2011

  6. Bulgarian keyboard does not work?

    By Stoyan Dimitrov on Dec 16, 2011

  7. Do you know if hebrew is supported there?

    By matan on Dec 17, 2011

  8. Matan: Hebrew works just fine

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Dec 18, 2011

  9. Stoyan – you are right, bulgarian does not work and I don’t know why. However, you can probably use Russian instead.

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Dec 18, 2011

  10. Is there any way to switch between languages at the moment you are typing the text?

    By Denis on Dec 20, 2011

  11. Press and hold the spacebar, then slide it sideways

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Dec 20, 2011

  12. Yes, I am using the Russion keyboard. Thanks.
    However one Bulgarian letter ( ?, not used often) is not in the Russian alphabet.

    By Stoyan Dimitrov on Dec 22, 2011

  13. hi, I am getting my kf tomorrow and was wondering if I can still do process mentioned with 6.2.1
    If not then please please may you describe in detail how to do so without connecting to the web (and recieving OTA update automaticly)
    Thank you

    By Matan on Dec 23, 2011

  14. I’ve updated my Kindle Fire to 6.2.1 – the “backdoor” to the keyboard layouts still exists.

    By Gero on Dec 23, 2011

  15. HI Same here: could someone please describe how to do the update with this APK file? Thank you!!!

    By Peter on Dec 23, 2011

  16. Peter:
    1. Make sure to enable ability to load outside apps into your Kindle by tapping the top right corner of the screen to enter the settings section, then click on “Device” and check off “Allow installation” for non approved applications.

    2. Go to this link in your browser:
    http://goo.gl/NfEqO

    3. Tap on the top LEFT corner of your screen to get to the downloaded file, and click on it to install.

    4. Go the home button, apps, find language settings and click on the button inside the app to open the settings.

    5. Select the languages you want.

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Dec 23, 2011

  17. thx very much

    By coala on Dec 23, 2011

  18. Work out great !! Thank you.

    By Peter on Dec 23, 2011

  19. Yakov, you might want to edit this:

    3. Tap on the top LEFT corner of your screen to get to the downloaded file, and click on it to install.

    By Gero on Dec 23, 2011

  20. Thank you!!! works perfect, love it :)

    By Viktoria on Dec 25, 2011

  21. Can you or he add Korean please?

    By miyoung on Dec 27, 2011

  22. Didn’t really work for me. It works only with some websites and apps, not all. Then there is a catch during uninstalling, it installed it back right after. How do I remove that downloaded file? it is still somewhere, even if the app is uninstalled.

    By elena on Dec 27, 2011

  23. miyoung,

    My app only exposes languages already on the device, to add Korean, you would probably need to root it (not something I recommend for casual users).

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Dec 27, 2011

  24. elena,

    To remove it, tap on Apps, right click on the app and select delete/remove. To remove the downloaded file off the device, you would need some sort of a file explorer app installed like ES Explorer, the download file will be in the downloads directory.

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Dec 27, 2011

  25. Thanks man! I gave the KF to my Polish wife for xmas. It was driving her nuts but thanks to this fix I can have my sanity back.

    By Mark G. in Poland on Dec 30, 2011

  26. Thank you – my rooted Kindle Fire now has RTL support (and can type Hebrew, too)! Do you have any idea which word processor would work in Hebrew? QuickOffice doesn’t seem to support RTL. I really would appreciate advice – I think that’s about the only thing I miss on the KF.

    By Lynda Berman on Jan 1, 2012

  27. Thank for this great tool.
    the only problem I have ia to switch between languages , I am trying to hold the space and slide – doesn’t work with English and Hebrew enable.

    any idea?

    By Eran on Jan 1, 2012

  28. ok, you have to hold and slide really quickly.
    Tnx

    By Eran on Jan 1, 2012

  29. Lynda – I don’t really know.

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Jan 1, 2012

  30. It was hard to switch between languages, I finally figured it out. You have to slide space key ALL THE WAY from one end to another, if you stop in the middle it won’t work. Does not matter how fast you do it.

    By Lev on Jan 3, 2012

  31. Is the Bulgarian language still not working?
    Any workaround?

    By Yordan on Jan 4, 2012

  32. Yordan – sorry, nothing at this time other than using the Russian keyboard.

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Jan 4, 2012

  33. Ok, thanks… that’s a pity :(
    Is Bulgarian the only language that is not working?

    By Yordan on Jan 5, 2012

  34. Most do not work – see the main body of the post above where I list the languages that do work.

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Jan 5, 2012

  35. Thanks Yakov!

    By Yordan on Jan 14, 2012

  36. Hello,
    Do you have to have an Android phone to download this app?
    Thank you

    By Elena on Jan 17, 2012

  37. It is a program for Android devices but you can download it on a regular computer and transfer it to your Android device via USB

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Jan 17, 2012

  38. Hello Yakov,
    It does not let me download onto a computer – it says that my account does not have any Android devices (which I really don’t). Is there something can be done?
    I would really appreciate your help!

    By Elena on Jan 19, 2012

  39. Use this link:

    http://goo.gl/NfEqO

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Jan 19, 2012

  40. Thank you so much for creating this! Very useful for browsing the web, as well as making flashcards on your Kindle : ) And it was easy to install!

    By Oksana on Jan 23, 2012

  41. Thank you so much. Can you add Mongolian please?

    Keyboard and letters are just little different of Russian keyboard and letters.

    ????????????
    ????????????
    ???????????

    ????????????
    ????????????
    ???????????

    Thank you.

    By busykid on Feb 3, 2012

  42. All my program does is provide access to the built in layouts, unfortunately Monglolian isn’t included. You may need to root the device in order to get that to work.

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Feb 5, 2012

  43. sorry,but i seem to experience the same difficultly like eran to switch between English and Hebrew while typing.
    the spacebar shows English with two arrows but does not change to Hebrew when i hold and slide it.

    any idea?

    thank you

    By hezi on Feb 10, 2012

  44. It takes a little used to. Try sliding the spacebar sideways

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Feb 11, 2012

  45. Can you please add Ukrainian language support?

    By hsm on Feb 12, 2012

  46. OK
    It worked only in the portrait mode (not in landscape)

    Thanks

    By Hezi on Feb 12, 2012

  47. All my program does is provide access to the built in layouts, unfortunately Ukrainian isn’t included. You may need to root the device in order to get that to work.

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Feb 12, 2012

  48. I have the same problem with switching the languages. I tried different ways, but none of them worked. In overall, though it is a great app, thank you so much for making it

    By aliya on Feb 13, 2012

  49. Hi Yakov

    I’d like to know if it’s possible to change from english to spanish language.

    I’ve been reading that it works with some languages but do you think is possible to see the way to change to spanish?

    Thank you very much

    By Miriam on Feb 16, 2012

  50. Spanish isn’t supported by the Kindle itself without rooting

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Feb 16, 2012

  51. Is it possible to add phonetical russian layout?
    It makes typing much easier for those used to English keyboard and transmit.

    Thank u.

    By mike on Feb 19, 2012

  52. Thank you for the information Yakov.

    By Miriam on Feb 22, 2012

  53. Thanx Yakov, very very useful, and also resolves that anoying issue with autocorrect that cannot be turned off with english keyboard (just change layout to any other latin keyboard). Just FYI – in Serbian, there is exactly one letter missing in the layout for some reason: ? (or lowercase ?).

    Great work – thanks!

    By djt on Mar 11, 2012

  54. We are limited to whatever is hidden inside the Kindle’s firmware

    By Yakov Shafranovich on Mar 11, 2012

  55. THANK YOU, YAKOV!
    EXCELLENT!

    (for those who had trouble switching between inputs, it takes time to get used towns both languages should be selected in application after install.)

    Thanks again! !!

    By an on Mar 28, 2012

  56. Thanks!

    By Miroslav Balkanski on May 5, 2012

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