How to Change the Language on a Roku Device

Roku is among the simplest tools that you can use to stream content on your television. Roku devices also offer a lot of options that you can tweak, with some of them being subtitle languages, size, and style. These options are easy to set up and personalize and can be very useful, depending on the type of programs you’re watching.

Here’s how to change the language settings on a Roku device.

Supported Languages on a Roku Device

First of all, Roku devices boast a large number of available language options. Additionally, a number of different scripts are also included, which is a nice touch. You can find the list of supported languages here. As you can see, it is very extensive and new languages are constantly being added to the platform.

Changing the Subtitle Language on a Roku Device

As mentioned, there are many languages available as on Roku devices, this applies to subtitles as well.

1. From the Main Menu on your Roku device’s homepage select Settings.
2. Now, go to System.
3. After you’ve selected System, find the Language option in the list.
4. This will open up a list of supported subtitle languages on your device. Scroll until you’ve found your desired language and select OK.

Alternative Methods for Changing the Language on a Roku Device

By default, most Roku devices are set to English. However, if your Roku stick isn’t in English and you want it to be, you can always do the factory reset to fix that. Hold the button on the side of your stick for 20-30 seconds and release it. Of course, this only works if your stick is booted and plugged in. This is definitely the quickest way to reset it to the factory settings.

1. Alternatively, hit the Home button and then the up arrow button.
2. This will have the Settings screen pop up, regardless of which language is set on your Roku. Hit OK to select it.
3. Then, hit the up arrow one more time you’ll go to the System options. Hit OK again. Hit the down arrow two times and click OK. This should open the Language options screen. The top language on the list should be English. Select it and confirm with the OK button.

Changing the Subtitle Size and Style

By default, subtitle style and size are uniform. However, you may want to change their appearance for whatever reason; maybe for fun, maybe because the particular program that you’re watching renders the default subtitles invisible, or maybe because your grandma has come to visit and you want to increase the subtitle size for her.

1. To change your subtitles’ size and style, go to the Main Menu on your device’s homepage and navigate to the Settings page. 
2. Now, go to Accessibility.
3. Now, select the Captions style submenu. Here, you’ll find subtitle options that include text color, style, size, edge effect, opacity, and others. Feel free to play around with the settings until you’ve found the ideal style for you.

Closed Captions

In their essence, yes, closed captions are subtitles – text displayed as a part of a television program. However, unlike the regular subtitles that only display the dialog, captions (CCs) display everything from the spoken elements to sound effects and background noises.

Closed captions are used by those hard-of-hearing or deaf, but also by the people who have to mute or turn down the TV volume for some reason. Naturally, closed captions are available on Roku devices.

Activating Closed Captions

By default, closed captions aren’t active. Moreover, when it comes to some providers, closed captions are activated via the channel itself, meaning that the closed captions settings on Roku won’t have any effect on them.

1. To activate closed captions, press the Home button on the Roku remote and then scroll down until you hit the Settings option. 
2. Once you’ve selected it, navigate to Accessibility.
3. If you can’t find it, find Captions on the list. If there is an Accessibility option, select it and go to Captions mode.
4. From the window that appears, select between the Off, On always, or On replay options.

• The first option turns the captions off.
• The aptly named On always option keeps captions on.
• The On replay mode will have the captions appear only when you press the Replay button on the remote.

Customizing Closed Captions

As is the case was with subtitles, captions can also be customized.

1. To do this, follow the directions given in the Changing Subtitle Style and Size section to get to the Captions style menu.
2. From here, you can adjust your closed captions settings.

Roku Language Settings

As you can see, changing the language on a Roku device is pretty easy. You can also customize the subtitles and closed captions settings. You can adjust their color, text size, style (font), edge effect, and opacity. You can also change the background and window color and opacity.

Did you find your preferred language on Roku’s list? What would you add to the language options? Share your thoughts in the comments below.