Language packs are sets of text files and images that are used to display Blackboard Learn in a specific language. Language packs are composed of two components: user interface (UI) text and help. The Blackboard calendar displays the most common convention for the first day of the week based on a user's selected language. You can change your language in the user profile. Administrators can customize the first day of the week for their language pack if they choose.

User interface text

The UI text includes course- and institution-related information as well as information about how to perform specific tasks within the system. While any custom language pack could be created, Blackboard Learn provides full UI translation for these languages:

  • Arabic (ar_SA)*
  • Chinese, Simplified (zh_CN)
  • Chinese, Traditional (zh_TW)
  • Danish (da_DK)
  • Dutch (nl_NL)
  • English, Australia (en_AU)
  • English, United Kingdom (en_GB)
  • English, United States (en_US)
  • French, Canada (fr_CA)
  • French (fr_FR)
  • German (de_DE)
  • Hebrew (he_IL)*
  • Italian (it_IT)
  • Japanese (ja_JP)
  • Korean (ko_KO)
  • Norwegian (nb_NO)
  • Portuguese, Brazilian (pt_BR)
  • Portuguese, Portugal (pt_PT)
  • Russian (ru_RU)
  • Spanish (es_ES)
  • Swedish (sv_SE)
  • Turkish (tr_TR)
  • Welsh (cy_GB)
  • Czech (cs_CZ)
  • Polish (pl_PL)
  • Malay (ms_MY)
  • Thai (th_TH)

* With availability of Right-To-Left support since June 2021.

Blackboard Help

Blackboard Help, where you are now, includes all reference materials that accompany Blackboard Learn. In addition to English, you can also get the information on this help site in other languages. To view the help that is available in your language, select an option in the upper-right corner of this page.

Enable and manage a language pack

Access installed language packs through Administrator Panel > Tools and Utilities > Language Packs. Locate the language pack you're looking for and open its menu. Select Manage to edit settings.

  • System Availability: Make this language available for use in your Blackboard Learn environment.
  • Language Pack Availability: Make this language available for courses, organizations, or users. When you make a language available as a user language, students and instructors can choose this user interface language if they prefer. If they don't choose a specific language, their interface uses the system default language.
  • System Default: Make the user interface text appear in this language for all users by default.
  • Ultra Language Pack: If you use the Ultra experience, you can customize strings directly within Blackboard Learn. Learn how to create and edit an Ultra locale.

You can also choose the default calendar format for this language pack.

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