Back to English with Garmin

A few days ago we wrote about people with TomTom devices that had accidentally selected the wrong language and wanted to get back to English. We’ve had a few similar emails recently from Garmin owners with the same issue, so here is a tutorial for the Nuvi. Note though that the menu structure changes a little bit across the different Nuvi models, so we’ll show the instructions here on a couple of different models.

Nuvi 200 Series Example

Start by turning the Nuvi off if it is on, and then turn it back on so that you are certain you are back at the main menu. The main menu is pictured at the right, click on the wrench icon near the lower right to enter the configurations menu.


Once in the configuration menu, click on the “gears” icon near the upper left corner of the menu, it should be there at the top of the list. This is the Settings menu.


This next menu will be a little bit more difficult to navigate in a different language. Click the down arrow once, and then select the second item from the top of the list. In this case you can clearly see that it says ‘Language’, however you might have to hunt a little. Again it should be the second item in the list after you have clicked the down arrow once.


Now that you are in the language menu, the second item in this list is the ‘text’ menu. Changing this menu first will make it easier to change back any other settings that might be incorrect. Tap on the button to the right of the second item in the list to bring up the list of languages.


Finally, in the Language menu scroll through the list of languages until you see ‘American English’. Select that item and then click the ‘OK’ button at the bottom. Your Nuvi should now look a whole lot more familiar to you.

Nuvi 700 Series Example

The Nuvi 700 series is fairly similar, with a few subtle changes. Again, it might help to turn the Nuvi off and then back on to make sure you are at the main menu. From the main menu, click on the wrench icon near the lower right corner of the screen.

From the menu, look for another wrench icon, this time in the upper left corner, which represents the Settings menu. Click on the wrench icon.

Now in the Settings menu, look for the Lips icon which should be in the first column of the second row… the lower left of the big white buttons. Click on the lips.

In the Language menu now, you want to change the language text which is displayed near the upper right corner of the three displayed buttons.

Finally, in the language menu, look for ‘American English’. It may not be at the top of the list as this example photo shows, however you can use the down arrow to scroll through until you find it. Select ‘American English’ and click ‘OK’. You should now be back with a familiar language.

Located in GPS, Garmin on Feb 17, 2008