Changing language of Missionary On-line Recommendation form

We have a member of one of our Spanish wards whose on-line recommendation only comes in the unit language (Spanish), and she'd like it in English. The problem is we can't find a way to change the language. Is this a known problem, or are we (bishop of the ward, stake president, or stake clerk) missing something in configuring a missionary's recommendation when it's started?

Thanks for your help

There's been an ongoing problem with lds.org picking the wrong language. I'd suggest she try going to lds.org, making sure the language is correct there, and then going to her missionary page. If that doesn't work, look for a "lang=" in the URL and change it to "lang=eng".

After signing in to the Missionary Online Recommendation System, there is a dropdown box at the top right (next to the Sign Out link) entitled Select a Language. The current choices are English, Spanish, and Portugese.

Although the site will start in Spanish because of her assigned unit, she should be able to change it to English. I do not know if she will have to select English each time she uses the site, or if her language preference will be recorded.

If she is using a smaller monitor, the dropdown may be off the screen to the right, because the page does not seem to format properly within the confines of the monitor being used to view the page.

Thank you for your responses. There is no "lang=xxx" in the URL, and the language selection button appears only when a leader logs into the Missionary On-line Recommendation site and not when the candidate logs in. We (stake president and stake clerk and her bishop) observed this today. This was Firefox 22.0 on Mac OS 10.8.4 with a wide screen. The missionary Web site recommends certain browsers (not Safari), so she used the Firefox browser.

I have observed the LDS.org Web site popping up with the "lang=spa" occasionally -- which language I rarely (almost never) use, except to test the lds.org Web site. I think it's because it shows up as a "popular" item, I suppose, though still puzzling.

We're having this same problem with a member. Anyone know how to fix this?

Same problem here. Our sons application is in Spanish. We are not Spanish and our ward is not a Spanish unit. Our LDS account is most definitely English. I can't find anywhere to change it.

It seems that this is still an issue. I'm trying to print my forms in English, but the website only loads in Portuguese (I go to a Portuguese ward) and I can't seem to find where to change the language. How is this still an issue?

Look at the url in the address bar - if it ends with anything other then "eng" then change it to read ..."/?lang=eng" and it should reload in English.

For English, the main church page looks like this: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/?lang=eng

There have been other posts where the language changed for some unexplained reason and this should fix it. Also, after logging into your church account, go to your profile and verify the language listed is correct - if not, change it there.

Amazing that this is still a problem. I started this thread 10 years ago.

Amazing that this is still a problem. I started this thread 10 years ago.

Did you also submit a formal Feedback request back then? This Forum is great for getting helpful ideas from other members, but unlikely to ever provide resolution to Church IT issues. Although I'm sure there are plenty of long-standing issues submitted via Feedback that still are unresolved, hopefully you at least also went through that route.

BrianEdwards wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:22 am

Amazing that this is still a problem. I started this thread 10 years ago.

Did you also submit a formal Feedback request back then? This Forum is great for getting helpful ideas from other members, but unlikely to ever provide resolution to Church IT issues. Although I'm sure there are plenty of long-standing issues submitted via Feedback that still are unresolved, hopefully you at least also went through that route.

I probably did everything I could think of. There was a time when there was a forum for communicating with church tech folk about issues. It's much harder to communicate with church tech folk these days. Where does one go for the formal Feedback request? It's not the "Feedback" via bottom of the page, is it? Getting intermediaries hasn't been helpful, since they seem to think it reflects badly on them to elevate a (l)user problem to upper-level tech folk, or there's been inserted a middle layer of folk to insulate the real techies from hearing about a real problem.

B_Seegmiller wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 2:25 pm I probably did everything I could think of. There was a time when there was a forum for communicating with church tech folk about issues. It's much harder to communicate with church tech folk these days. Where does one go for the formal Feedback request? It's not the "Feedback" via bottom of the page, is it? Getting intermediaries hasn't been helpful, since they seem to think it reflects badly on them to elevate a (l)user problem to upper-level tech folk, or there's been inserted a middle layer of folk to insulate the real techies from hearing about a real problem.

It is the Feedback button at the bottom of the page. Providing feedback is the most effective way to get the issue in front of those who direct the developer's priorities. Remember, you and I are not considered "customers" - the church departments who sponsor the work are the customers and the developers follow their direction. Feedback is summarized and provided to those who can assign tasks to the developers. However, we don't know what other priorities are on their plate so feedback may not receive an immediate activity (and the church typically doesn't publish what they are working on or when it might be released). Another way to get your request up-channeled in the church is to ask your Stake President to bring it up in the coordinating council he is a member of.

davesudweeks wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 3:31 pm

B_Seegmiller wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 2:25 pm I probably did everything I could think of. There was a time when there was a forum for communicating with church tech folk about issues. It's much harder to communicate with church tech folk these days. Where does one go for the formal Feedback request? It's not the "Feedback" via bottom of the page, is it? Getting intermediaries hasn't been helpful, since they seem to think it reflects badly on them to elevate a (l)user problem to upper-level tech folk, or there's been inserted a middle layer of folk to insulate the real techies from hearing about a real problem.

It is the Feedback button at the bottom of the page. Providing feedback is the most effective way to get the issue in front of those who direct the developer's priorities. Remember, you and I are not considered "customers" - the church departments who sponsor the work are the customers and the developers follow their direction. Feedback is summarized and provided to those who can assign tasks to the developers. However, we don't know what other priorities are on their plate so feedback may not receive an immediate activity (and the church typically doesn't publish what they are working on or when it might be released). Another way to get your request up-channeled in the church is to ask your Stake President to bring it up in the coordinating council he is a member of.

I appreciate your phrasing it so positively, but it doesn’t sound necessarily promising. Putting UI or usability or tech issues in front of the intermediaries who are unfamiliar with the technicalities involved seems likely doomed to misunderstanding.

The last time I submitted a Feedback query, the response demonstrated that the respondent hadn’t a clue about my question and the Web page the Feedback came from. I responded politely to try to clarify things, but there’s been dead silence so far. Weird, and not encouraging of the direction “assistance” via Feedback is going. Sorry to express disappointment. Disappointing to hear that the users (consumers) are seen as disconnected from the (paying) “customers”.

Seems like this is still an issue. I’m Brazilian, and my native language is Portuguese, but I moved to the US and am in an English-speaking ward. I’m trying to change the language to English. Does anyone know how to solve this issue?

moronifeitosa wrote: Sat May 24, 2025 9:53 am Seems like this is still an issue. I’m Brazilian, and my native language is Portuguese, but I moved to the US and am in an English-speaking ward. I’m trying to change the language to English. Does anyone know how to solve this issue?

In Church Account settings there's an option to set a preferred language. Go to Account.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, then go to the Profile tab, and scroll to "Notification Language." I don't know if the setting affects more than account notifications, but it might be worth a try.

Has anyone had any luck figuring this out?? Somehow my missionary portal is in Russian and I can’t change it back. Even my dad who speaks Russian has no idea. I have no idea how it got that way. I can change the language on the sign in page but nothing else. It’s clearly a problem with the portal and not my device since it shows up in Russian on other devices I have signed into. Randomly happened about a month ago and I haven’t gotten anywhere with Church IT.

jackwoods07 wrote: Sat Oct 11, 2025 6:42 am Has anyone had any luck figuring this out?? Somehow my missionary portal is in Russian and I can’t change it back. Even my dad who speaks Russian has no idea. I have no idea how it got that way. I can change the language on the sign in page but nothing else. It’s clearly a problem with the portal and not my device since it shows up in Russian on other devices I have signed into. Randomly happened about a month ago and I haven’t gotten anywhere with Church IT.

When you sign into your normal Church account, is the displayed language English or Russian? I don't know what might be different about the "missionary portal" compared to the main website, but it would be good to know if you also see this whenever you browse the church webpages using your church account. Without knowing a bit more about your specifics, it's hard to guess.

One idea would be to see what happens when you work together with somebody else. For example, if someone else (your dad, etc) uses the same web browser on your computer to log onto their church account, is it also displayed in Russian? Similarly, if you log onto someone else's laptop (your dad's, etc) where that person can successfully use the church website in English, what happens when you log into your church account?

The more details you provide, the better chance a Forum member might provide either a workaround or perhaps even a solution.

This same thing is happening to me. I speak English but my missionary application is completely in Spanish and I cannot find any way to change it. My profile settings say my preferred language is English, I'm getting to the page from the English missionary portal, everything about it is in English until I click on the application link and that page only comes up in Spanish. Even if I add "lang=eng" onto the url, the page either shows an error message or keeps the "lang=eng" at the end but still displays the page in Spanish. I tried logging in on different browsers, different computers, on my phone, and nothing is working. Did anyone find a way to fix this?

I am needing help on the same thing. All my settings say English even in the URL, but it keeps reverting back to Spanish in the site every time I log on. Right when I think I have it all in English, I download my forms to take to bishop, doctor and dentist, EVERYTHING is SPANISH.