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So far, I was able to start applications in english reliably by specifying the environment variables LANGUAGE (sometimes LANG or LC_ALL) with value en, en_US or C which is also what questions like How to change language of a specific application? explain. env LANGUAGE=en gedit works like a charm.

However, with ubuntu-software I have no luck. Is there any way to start the program in english. I want to write very high-quality instructions in english how to use the software center (including button and other control labels) without switching the system language setup or choosing some other complex approaches like going through the i18n source code.

I'm using Ubuntu 18.10.

Kalle Richter
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    Probably this is stopping you: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/software-center/+bug/434601 "if the cache was geneated with a english locale and then is used by a user with german locale, the cache will be english only." Bug but if this is true you can work with it: set global lang to english, cash the packahes, switch back to german. You would see the text in english in software center. – Rinzwind Apr 04 '19 at 10:17
  • @Rinzwind Thanks for your research. I'd like to stress that was looking for a way to start the software with english UI control labels, however sudo env LANGUAGE=en apt-get update && sudo env LANGUAGE=en ubuntu-software gives me an english UI. I'd accept that as an answer :) – Kalle Richter Apr 04 '19 at 10:25

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Due to a bug in software-center/ubuntu-software (since 2009) it's necessary to get the apt cache in english once in order to be able to start the software in english using the LANGUAGE variable as usual as pointed out by user Rinzwind:

sudo env LANGUAGE=en apt-get update && sudo env LANGUAGE=en ubuntu-software

starts the software in english.

Kalle Richter
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