Language
Leaf’s interface is available in Simplified Chinese alongside English. The translation was written and reviewed by a native speaker from the community, not run through a machine and shipped as-is.
Switching
Section titled “Switching”Go to Settings > General > Language and pick 中文. Leaf restarts on the spot, about a second, and comes back translated. Pick English the same way to switch back.
The row only appears when a translation is installed, so if you do not see it, your Leaf predates the feature.
What changes
Section titled “What changes”Menus, settings, dialogs, button hints, the in-game menu, and system messages are translated. RetroArch and PPSSPP follow too: their own menus switch with Leaf, so you never set the language in three places, and switching back to English brings them all with it. The interface also switches to a font that can draw Chinese, since none of the nine regular Leaf fonts carry those characters. That is why the Font row in Settings is locked while Chinese is active: your chosen font comes back when you switch to English.
If you would rather run PSP games in a different language from the rest of Leaf, set it inside PPSSPP’s own settings. Leaf notices you have chosen for yourself and stops changing it.
What stays in English
Section titled “What stays in English”Some things are kept in English on purpose:
- Game names. They come from your files and from the artwork scraper. Leaf never rewrites them.
- Console names. Game Boy, PlayStation, and the rest stay in Latin script, which is how Chinese players write them too. The arcade category is translated (街机).
- Product and app names. Leaf, RetroArch, and the built-in apps keep their names, since those are the words you would search for when asking for help.
- Some standalone emulator menus. PPSSPP now follows Leaf, but the others each carry their own interface and are still English. DraStic is only ever offered in Traditional Chinese, which is the one translation it ships, so Leaf leaves it in English rather than switch you to the wrong script. Flycast and the N64 emulator have no Chinese at all. Bringing the rest in line is on the list.
Chinese game names
Section titled “Chinese game names”This part works in any language, including English. A game file named in Chinese, a fan translation for example, used to show up as empty boxes. Now it renders correctly everywhere titles appear, and the rest of your interface stays exactly as it was.
Fixing a translation
Section titled “Fixing a translation”If a string reads wrong, say so on the Discord. No
update is needed to test a fix: Leaf reads a plain text override file from
.umrk/mlp1/i18n/zh_CN.tsv on the SD card, one English<TAB>中文 pair per line,
which outranks the built-in translation. That file is how the translation was
reviewed in the first place, and it survives updates.