How to force eclipse to use a specified interface language?

Question

My new work laptop has my native (Polish) locale set. However, I'm simply not able to use eclipse in any language other than English. I'm so used to English names I don't understand the translations.

How do I force Eclipse to start with other language than the OS uses?

Answer 1

OK, I got it:

eclipse.ini should contain following line:

-Duser.language=en_US

Answer 2

If adding "-Duser.language=fr" or "-nl fr" to your command line (or, equivalently, adding "osgi.nl=fr" to configuration/config.ini) has no apparent effect, you are missing the language packs (en_US is the default language pack).

You must then add the "Babel Language Pack Update Site" for the appropriate Eclipse release. Go to http://www.eclipse.org/babel/downloads.php to look it up. For instance, the Juno Babel language pack update site is http://download.eclipse.org/technology/babel/update-site/R0.10.0/juno. Add this site to your Available Software sites (Help: Install New Software: Available Software Sites). You will then be able to select the pertinent "Babel Language Packs for Eclipse" for installation (e.g. fr in this case). After an automatic restart, you should have the UI in your choice of language.