Changing the emulator locale from the adb shell
To change the locale in the emulator by using the adb shell.
- Pick the locale you want to test and determine its BCP-47 language tag, for example, Canadian French would be fr-CA.
- Launch an emulator.
- From a command-line shell on the host computer, run the following command:
adb shell
or if you have a device attached, specify that you want the emulator by adding the -e option:
adb -e shell - At the adb shell prompt (#), run this command:
setprop persist.sys.locale [BCP-47 language tag];stop;sleep 5;start
Replace bracketed sections with the appropriate codes from Step 1.
For instance, to test in Canadian French:
setprop persist.sys.locale fr-CA;stop;sleep 5;start
This causes the emulator to restart. (It looks like a full reboot, but it isn't.) Once the Home screen appears again, re-launch your app, and the app launches with the new locale.