How to Fix Autocorrect Typing in the Wrong Language

Published 2026-10-16 · Marion Phone Repair

You type an English word and autocorrect changes it to a word in Spanish, French, German, or another language you did not intend to type in. Or the keyboard suggestions above the keys are showing words in a different language. Or autocorrect has stopped working entirely because it is trying to correct English text using a foreign language dictionary. This happens when your keyboard has multiple languages installed and the wrong one is active, or when the keyboard is confused about which language you are typing in.

Check your keyboard languages

The most common cause is having multiple keyboard languages installed. Most phones support multiple languages simultaneously and try to auto-detect which language you are typing. When this detection fails, autocorrect applies rules from the wrong language.

Android (Gboard)

Open any app with a text field and bring up the keyboard
Long-press the spacebar or tap the globe icon (if visible). This shows all installed keyboard languages
If you see languages you do not use, go to Settings, System, Languages and Input, On-Screen Keyboard, Gboard, Languages
Remove any language you do not actively type in by tapping the language and selecting Remove. Keep only the languages you actually use
If you need multiple languages, make sure your primary language is listed first — Gboard prioritizes the first language in the list for autocorrect

Android (Samsung Keyboard)

Open Settings, General Management, Samsung Keyboard Settings, Languages and Types
Review the list of installed languages. Swipe left on any language you do not need and tap Remove
Make sure your primary language is at the top of the list. Drag to reorder if needed
Samsung Keyboard has a Multilingual Typing option — if this is on and you only type in one language, turn it off. This prevents the keyboard from trying to guess between languages

iPhone

Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards
You will see a list of installed keyboards. If there are languages you do not use, swipe left on them and tap Delete
If you accidentally added a keyboard (this commonly happens when setting up the phone), removing it stops autocorrect from using that language's dictionary
Also check Settings, General, Language and Region. Make sure the iPhone Language and Region are set correctly for your location

Switch the active keyboard language

If you need multiple languages but autocorrect is currently using the wrong one, you can manually switch:

Android Gboard: Tap the globe icon next to the spacebar to cycle through installed languages. The active language is shown briefly when you switch. You can also long-press the spacebar to see a language selector
Samsung Keyboard: Swipe the spacebar left or right to switch between installed languages
iPhone: Tap the globe icon on the keyboard to switch languages. If you long-press the globe icon, you get a list of all installed keyboards to select from directly

After switching, autocorrect uses the dictionary for the selected language.

Reset the keyboard dictionary

If autocorrect has learned wrong-language words from your typing history, the learned dictionary may be polluted with words that are not in your intended language. Resetting the dictionary clears all learned words and starts fresh.

Android Gboard

Settings, System, Languages and Input, On-Screen Keyboard, Gboard
Advanced, Delete Learned Words and Data
Confirm. This removes all words Gboard has learned from your typing. Standard dictionary words for your language remain — only your personally learned words are deleted

Samsung Keyboard

Settings, General Management, Samsung Keyboard Settings
Reset to Default Settings, Erase Personalized Data
This clears all learned words and resets autocorrect predictions to the default dictionary

iPhone

Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Reset
Reset Keyboard Dictionary
Enter your passcode and confirm. This removes all custom words the keyboard has learned and returns autocorrect to its default vocabulary

Disable auto language detection

Some keyboards try to automatically detect which language you are typing and switch dictionaries on the fly. This feature works well for bilingual users who switch frequently, but it can misfire for monolingual users whose typing occasionally triggers a false language detection.

Gboard: Go to Gboard settings, Languages. If you have multiple languages installed, there is no explicit auto-detect toggle — the multilingual behavior is inherent. The fix is to remove languages you do not use
Samsung Keyboard: Settings, General Management, Samsung Keyboard Settings, Languages and Types. Turn off Multilingual Typing if you only type in one language
iPhone: The iPhone does not have an explicit language auto-detect toggle. If you only have one keyboard language installed, autocorrect only uses that language. The fix is to remove extra keyboard languages

Check the system language

Your phone's system language influences which language autocorrect defaults to. If the system language is set to a language different from what you type in, autocorrect may prioritize the system language:

Android: Settings, System, Languages and Input, Languages. Your preferred language should be first in the list. If you see a foreign language at the top, drag your preferred language to the first position
iPhone: Settings, General, Language and Region, iPhone Language. This should be set to your primary language

App-specific autocorrect issues

Some apps have their own text input behavior that can override or interact with the keyboard's autocorrect:

Social media apps: Some apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook have their own text prediction and mention systems that can interfere with standard autocorrect. If autocorrect misbehaves only in a specific app, the issue may be with that app rather than the keyboard
Third-party keyboards: If you use a third-party keyboard (SwiftKey, Fleksy, etc.), that keyboard has its own language settings separate from the system keyboard. Open the third-party keyboard's settings app and check its language configuration
SwiftKey specific: SwiftKey is particularly aggressive with multilingual detection. Open SwiftKey settings, Languages, and remove any languages you do not type in. SwiftKey also has a Learning toggle — turn it off temporarily to see if learned wrong-language words are the problem

Autocorrect keeps changing correct words

If autocorrect is in the right language but keeps changing words you type correctly (proper nouns, slang, technical terms, brand names):

Add words to your dictionary: When autocorrect changes a word, tap the word in the suggestion bar (the original word usually appears as an alternative) to teach the keyboard that word. After rejecting a correction a few times, most keyboards learn to stop correcting that specific word
Text replacement shortcuts: For words you type frequently that autocorrect always changes, add a text replacement: iPhone: Settings, General, Keyboard, Text Replacement. Android: Settings, System, Languages and Input, Personal Dictionary. Add the word exactly as you want it typed

Disable autocorrect entirely

If autocorrect causes more problems than it solves, you can turn it off while keeping the keyboard functional:

Android Gboard: Gboard settings, Text Correction, toggle off Auto-correction. You can keep Spell Check on — it underlines potentially misspelled words without automatically changing them
Samsung Keyboard: Settings, General Management, Samsung Keyboard Settings, toggle off Auto Replace (or Autocorrect). Keep Predictive Text on if you still want word suggestions above the keyboard without automatic changes
iPhone: Settings, General, Keyboard, toggle off Auto-Correction. Toggle off Predictive Text as well if you do not want word suggestions

Keyboard help in Marion

If your phone's autocorrect keeps switching languages or changing words incorrectly and the settings above did not fix it, Marion Phone Repair can check your keyboard configuration, language settings, and dictionary data to diagnose and fix the autocorrect behavior.