Delocalizing R

[schnee]

If you, like me, are sometimes using R in the salt mines, and if you're stuck with a work computer that's got a localized copy of Windows installed where changing the system language is no an option, and if you're annoyed that R then translates every fucking thing including error messages …

… then set an environment variable called LANGUAGE to en, and restart R (i. e. RStudio or whatever IDE you use).

Setting an environment variable is somewhat convoluted, but in Windows 11, here's how you do it:

1. Right-click on This PC.
2. Select Properties.
3. Click on Advanced system settings.
4. Click on the Environment Variables… button.
5. Click on the New… button under User Variables (NOT the one under System Variables).
6. From here on it should be obvious how to proceed.

Also, tell the R developers to stop this crap. Translating user-facing error messages is one thing; translating developer-facing error messages is actively harmful when you're trying to figure out why an error is happening.