How to Change the Display Language in Visual Studio Code and GitHub

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) and GitHub are two of the most widely used tools in modern web development — but they handle "language" settings in very different ways. Whether you're trying to switch the UI language in VS Code, change the syntax highlighting language for a file, or adjust language-related settings on GitHub, the steps depend heavily on what you're actually trying to change.

This guide breaks down each scenario clearly so you know exactly where to look.

What "Language" Actually Means in These Tools

Before diving into steps, it's worth clarifying that "language" can refer to two entirely different things:

• Display/UI language — the language the interface itself uses (English, French, Spanish, etc.)
• File language mode — the programming or markup language VS Code uses to interpret and highlight a file (JavaScript, Python, HTML, etc.)

GitHub adds another layer: it detects the programming languages used in your repositories automatically, but you can influence this through configuration files.

Knowing which of these you want to change determines the right approach entirely.

Changing the UI Display Language in VS Code

By default, VS Code ships with English as its interface language. To switch to another display language, you need to install a Language Pack extension.

Step 1: Open the Extensions Panel

Press Ctrl+Shift+X (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+X (macOS) to open the Extensions sidebar.

Step 2: Search for a Language Pack

In the search bar, type the language you want — for example, "Chinese Simplified", "French", or "Spanish". Microsoft publishes official Language Pack extensions for most major languages. They appear with the Microsoft publisher badge.

Step 3: Install and Apply

Click Install. VS Code will prompt you to restart the editor with the new language applied. After restarting, the entire interface — menus, settings labels, and dialog boxes — will display in your chosen language.

Switching Back or Changing Again

Use the Configure Display Language command:

1. Open the Command Palette with Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Type Configure Display Language
3. Select from the list of installed language packs

This method is particularly useful if you're working across teams with different language preferences or contributing to open-source projects with international collaborators. 🌐

Changing the File Language Mode in VS Code

This is the most common "language" change developers need. If VS Code is highlighting a file incorrectly — for instance, treating a .js file as plain text — you can manually set the language mode.

Quick Method: Status Bar

Look at the bottom-right corner of the VS Code window. You'll see the current language mode displayed (e.g., "Plain Text," "JavaScript," "Python"). Click it to open the language selection dropdown and type or scroll to the language you want.

Setting a Default Language for a File Type

If you always want .env files recognized as Shell Script, or a custom extension recognized as JSON, you can set this globally in your settings:

1. Open Settings (Ctrl+, or Cmd+,)
2. Search for files.associations
3. Add your mapping — for example, associate *.config with json

This setting persists across sessions and applies to every file matching that pattern in your workspace.

Workspace vs. User Settings

VS Code distinguishes between User Settings (global, applies everywhere) and Workspace Settings (applies only to the current project folder). Language associations set at the workspace level won't affect your other projects — useful when different codebases use unconventional file naming. 🛠️

How GitHub Handles Language Detection

GitHub automatically detects and displays the programming languages used in a repository using a tool called Linguist. You'll see this as the colored language bar at the top of a repository's main page.

Why GitHub Might Show the Wrong Language

GitHub's detection can be thrown off by:

• Large vendor or generated files (e.g., bundled JavaScript libraries)
• Documentation-heavy repos where Markdown outweighs actual code
• Unconventional file extensions that Linguist doesn't recognize by default

Overriding GitHub's Language Detection

You can control this behavior using a .gitattributes file in the root of your repository. This is a plain text file that tells Linguist how to categorize or ignore certain files.

Add the file, commit it, and push — GitHub will re-evaluate the repository's language breakdown on the next page load.

Changing the GitHub Interface Language

GitHub's website UI language is tied to your browser's language settings, not a setting within GitHub itself. If you want GitHub's interface to display in a different language, change your browser's preferred language settings. GitHub will reflect this change automatically for supported languages.

The Variables That Affect Your Approach

What the right steps look like in practice depends on several factors:

• Are you using VS Code locally or in GitHub Codespaces? Codespaces runs VS Code in the browser — some extension behaviors differ from the desktop app.
• Do you need the change for one file, one project, or globally? User settings, workspace settings, and per-file overrides each have different scopes.
• Is your repo using unconventional structure or tooling? Monorepos, large auto-generated directories, or polyglot projects behave differently under Linguist's detection.
• Are you collaborating with a multilingual team? Workspace-level language pack settings won't automatically apply to teammates — each user configures their own VS Code environment.

Developers working solo on a personal project have very different configuration needs than those contributing to a shared enterprise repository where language detection in GitHub directly affects project metadata and discoverability. 💡

Your specific setup — the scope of the change you need, the structure of your project, and how VS Code is being run — is what ultimately determines which of these approaches fits best.