The Language setting is 'English (US)', in keeping with the origin of the document. I have examined all of the Preference settings, of course, but to no avail. If I did get someone at Microsoft to look at this they would probably be instructed to lie about it and then fix the bug quietly at the next upgrade Microsoft likes to bury its failures secretly.

The built-in help files in the program are worthless, telling you things you know and remaining silent on crucial misfeatures and problems the online help is unusable time-wasting crap with similar properties and there are no sensible ways of getting through to tech support without spending hours on the phone. If you use Word, you will know why I am asking the Language Log community rather than Microsoft.

Saving the file preserves the pseudo-Frenchness. The grammar check not only assumes that French is being checked but also reports its results and queries in French. Word works through the file checking every significant English word and rejecting it for insufficient francophonicity (with no suggestions for respelling), underlining them all in red, though most French words are accepted. I have a perfectly ordinary file (a simple letter template showing my home address), created in Word on an American Macintosh Powerbook using an American-purchased copy of Word, and when I open it as a copy on my UK-purchased MacBook Pro (though not when I open it as the original) almost everything works except that the file is deranged, and thinks it is supposed to be in French.Įditing the file provokes enforcement of French spacing conventions (colons and semicolons are preceded by an extra inserted space that I do not type) the double quotation symbols (‘‘like this’’) appear as those funny French marks that look a bit like pairs of less-thans and greater-thans (sort of >) and, weirdest of all, the spelling and checking of 'grammaire et style' turn into French. I need some expert help, Language Log readers. Microsoft Word has really done it to me this time.

Why is my microsoft word in french