# Switch between English and Arabic

> How to change RoughCut's interface language, why English is always the starting point, and why the job language is a separate control.
>
> Verified against the current RoughCut app on 28 August 2026
> https://www.roughcuteditor.com/docs/language

RoughCut runs in English until you choose Arabic yourself. The app pins English on first run even on an Arabic-system Mac, so Arabic is strictly opt-in and never happens by locale detection. Switch it from the globe link on the welcome tour, or from the language menu in the Settings header, which is visible on every tab; a row on the Basic tab makes the same change and defers the restart behind a Relaunch Now button. RoughCut relaunches to apply the interface language and the layout direction, and the Arabic interface is right to left while paths, code, model identifiers, JSON, URLs and timecodes stay left to right. The job Language setting is a different control: it governs transcription, where auto-detect suits most clips and forcing English or Arabic fixes a wrong guess. Changing the interface language does not translate transcripts you already have. Arabic documentation lives at /ar/docs/.

## Prerequisites

- Nothing to install. Both languages ship inside the app.
- Be ready for RoughCut to restart. The switch requires a relaunch, so finish or pause anything in progress first.
- A running job will not survive the relaunch. Wait for it to finish, or expect to run it again.

## Steps

1. Open `Settings`.
2. Find the globe icon in the Settings header. It is visible on **every** tab, and its label shows the current language — `English` or `العربية`.
3. Choose the other language from that menu. RoughCut applies the change and **relaunches immediately**.
4. To defer the restart instead, go to the `Basic` tab and use the `App language` row. It applies the change, shows `Takes effect after RoughCut relaunches.`, and gives you a `Relaunch Now` button to press when you are ready.
5. During first-run setup, use the globe link at the top right of the welcome tour. The tour reopens in the language you picked.

## Expected result

RoughCut reopens in the chosen language. The interface text changes and, for Arabic, the layout direction flips to right-to-left: the sidebar, controls, and reading order all mirror.

Your settings, jobs, keys, and purchases are unaffected. A relaunch is a restart of the interface, not a reset.

## English is the default, on purpose

RoughCut **pins English on first run for everyone**, including on Macs whose system language is Arabic. It does not read your system locale and switch itself.

That is a deliberate product decision, not an oversight: **Arabic is strictly opt-in.** The consequence for you is simple — if you want Arabic, you choose it once, and RoughCut remembers. Nothing will flip the interface back or forward on its own.

The same rule applies on this website. English is the default edition and there is no geographic or IP-based redirect; the language link is always yours to press.

## The interface language and the job language are different controls

This is the single most common confusion, and the app addresses it directly with a caption under the language row: **the language of transcripts always follows the video itself, not this setting.**

| Control | Where it lives | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| App language | The Settings header, or the `App language` row on `Basic` | The language of RoughCut's own interface, and its layout direction. |
| `Language` | The job screen — `New Rough Cut` under `Fine-tune`, and `Transcribe Only` directly | Which language the transcriber expects for **this job's audio**. |

The job `Language` control offers `Auto-detect`, `English`, and `Arabic`, and defaults to `Auto-detect`.

- **`Auto-detect` works for most clips.** Leave it alone unless you have a reason.
- **Force `English` or `Arabic` when detection guesses wrong.** Short clips, heavy background noise, and recordings that mix languages are where detection is most likely to slip. The transcript result screen shows the language it settled on, so you can check. See [Read and verify a transcript result](/docs/transcript-results).

Switching the app to Arabic does **not** make RoughCut transcribe in Arabic, and running the app in English does not stop it transcribing Arabic audio correctly. The two settings never influence each other.

## Changing the language does not translate anything

RoughCut does not translate. Changing the interface language:

- does **not** re-transcribe or translate a transcript you already have,
- does **not** change the language of a transcript you produce next — that follows the audio,
- does **not** alter exported SRT or text files, which are in whatever was spoken.

If you need a transcript in a different language from the recording, that is a translation task for another tool, applied to the exported text.

## What stays left to right in the Arabic interface

The Arabic interface mirrors the layout, but technical strings are not mirrored, because reversing them would make them wrong or unreadable. These stay left to right in both languages:

- File and folder paths
- Code, JSON, and configuration keys
- Model identifiers such as the Whisper model filename
- URLs
- Timecodes and numeric readouts

Transcript text is handled by content, not by interface: the transcript view follows the direction of the detected text. An Arabic transcript renders right to left even while RoughCut's interface is in English, and an English transcript renders left to right in the Arabic interface.

## Documentation in Arabic

This documentation has a full Arabic edition at `/ar/docs/`. Every article exists in both languages with the same structure, and each page carries a link to its counterpart, so you can switch languages without losing your place.

The website's language choice is independent of the app's. Reading the Arabic documentation does not change the app, and running the app in Arabic does not change which edition of the site you land on.

## Common mistakes

- **Expecting the app to follow the system language.** It does not, by design.
- **Changing the app language to change the transcription language.** Use the job's `Language` control instead.
- **Switching mid-job.** The relaunch ends the running job.
- **Looking for the language switch on one particular tab.** It is in the Settings header, on all of them.
- **Expecting a translated transcript.** RoughCut transcribes; it does not translate.

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The interface did not change | RoughCut has not relaunched yet | If you used the `Basic` tab row, press `Relaunch Now`. The header menu restarts on its own. |
| Arabic appeared without being asked for | The setting was changed earlier and remembered | Open the header globe menu and choose `English`. |
| Transcripts are in the wrong language | Auto-detection guessed wrong on this clip | Re-run with `Language` set to `English` or `Arabic` explicitly. |
| Latin words appear inside Arabic interface text | Intentional | Brand and technical terms such as RoughCut, Final Cut Pro, FCPXML, and SRT are never translated. |
| A running job disappeared after switching | The relaunch ended it | Run it again once the app is back. |

Still stuck? See [Troubleshooting by symptom](/docs/troubleshooting) and [Contact support](/docs/contact-support).