How to change the keyboard language in Windows 11

Need a different keyboard layout to use special characters – for example for texts in a foreign language? One option is to insert them using the ‘Insert special characters’ function, but that’s rather tedious. A more practical solution is temporarily switching the keyboard layout. Read on to find out how to change the keyboard language in Windows 11.

When you want to switch the default keyboard layout in Windows 11, you need to do the following:

1. Open Windows settings.
2. Call up the ‘Time & language’ menu and find the ‘Language & region’ option
3. Click on ‘Add language’ and install the desired keyboard layout.
4. Change keyboard layout via taskbar or using the key combination [Win] + [Space].

Want to use an alternative keyboard layout? In Windows 11 you need to install the relevant language package in order to do so. Before you can switch the layout, you must first install the desired package. Once done, you can change the keyboard language of Windows 11. In the following, we will guide you through the entire process step by step.

Step 4: Install the package by clicking the button with the same name.

If you tend to swap between languages regularly, it may be easier to use keyboard shortcuts. The following combinations are used to switch the language of a keyboard:

• [Alt] + [Shift]
• Windows key + Spacebar.

In both cases, hold down the first key and press the second key to switch through the available keyboard layouts. For example, hold down the Windows key and press the spacebar to move between entries in the layout listing. Tapping the spacebar a second time selects the next entry, and so on.