Frequently Asked Questions

There are 24 localized versions of Windows 2000. These are:

English, German, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, French, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Brazilian, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, and Turkish.

The language and locale support offered is identical in each of the localized versions, so whether you're using the English version or the Arabic version, you'll find you can still input, process and display text in Greek, Japanese, Korean or any of the other languages supported in Windows 2000.

This is an impossible question to answer accurately, for two reasons. First, language is a notoriously fluid concept; it can be very difficult to determine exactly what constitutes a language (as opposed to a dialect, say). Second, in addition to the languages supported explicitly by the Windows 2000 language groups, many hundreds of other languages are covered by association. For example, the Latin script support provided by the system not only covers many of the European languages, but will also suffice for many African and Native American languages, too.

In general, we prefer to state that Windows 2000 supports the languages used in over 120 locales.

As the answer above states, Windows 2000 provides support for the languages and regional settings used in over 120 locales.

Localized versions of Windows 2000 generally provide more extensive support and coverage than the English version with an appropriate language group. Localized versions of the system typically provide:

• Greater migration and upgrade support.

• More extensive application compatibility.

• More fonts and IMEs (Input Method Editors).

• Special tools.

• Extra local drivers (support for a more extensive range of modems, printer drivers, etc.).

• Legacy DOS, BIOS support.

• Fully localized user interface.

• Localized documents (readme, release notes, etc.).

Functionally there is little difference. A system running the Windows 2000 MultiLanguage Version will largely look and behave like the localized version, with the exception that the following items are not localized (i.e. remain in the "master" language of the system): all 16-bit code, bitmaps, registry keys and values, folders and file names, and INF files.