Raspberry Pi OS • HOWTO: Choose the correct locale & keyboard (ANSI, ISO, JIS, QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ)

I'm from the Netherlands, where we typically use US English keyboards (ANSI QWERTY layout). Honestly, I never really thought about different keyboard layouts or locales — I always assumed my setup was just “standard”.

But when running sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales and sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration, I realized it's not always obvious which options to select — especially for users in countries with multiple languages, keyboard types, or mixed setups (like using a US keyboard in Europe).

That’s why I made this overview — to help you choose the right options for both locale settings and keyboard configuration.

Each locale looks like this: xx_XX, where: xx is the language code (like en for English, fr for French) XX is the country code (like US for the United States, BE for Belgium). You can enable multiple locales, but your system will ask you to pick one as the default. This affects your system language in GNOME, keyboard behavior, date/time format, and spellcheckers in LibreOffice.

The list below is designed to help you: Know which locale(s) to enable in sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales and choose the correct keyboard layout in sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration.

Understand what keyboard type your country typically uses (ANSI, ISO, JIS) and get a better idea of how your physical keyboard aligns with your language settings. I haven’t listed all countries, but I’ve included many common setups. Let me know if you'd like me to add your country or fix something!



Generic 104-key PC (ANSI layout):
Canada English     QWERTY    en_CA
China     QWERTY + IME, e.g. Pinyin      zh_CN
Mexico     QWERTY, also has English      es_MX     en_MX
Netherlands     QWERTY      L-shaped Enter      nl_NL     nl_BE     nl_AW
South Korea      QWERTY + IME      Korean input on ANSI layout      ko_KR
United States     QWERTY, also has Spanish      en_US     es_US

Generic 105-key PC (ISO layout):
Arabic regions     Arabic layout with IME      RTL script      ar_SA     ar_EG     ar_MA     fa_IR
Austria     QWERTZ      de_AT
Belgium     AZERTY      Dutch, French and German      fr_BE     nl_BE     de_BE
Brazil     ABNT2 layout      ISO-based      pt_BR
Canada French     QWERTY, CSA layout      fr_CA
Czech Republic     QWERTZ      cs_CZ
Denmark     QWERTY      Nordic variant      da_DK
Finland     QWERTY      Nordic variant      fi_FI
France     AZERTY      fr_FR
Germany     QWERTZ      de_DE
Greece     QWERTY      Greek layout      el_GR
Hungary     QWERTZ      hu_HU
Israel     QWERTY + Hebrew layout      he_IL
Italy     QWERTY      Italian variant      it_IT
Norway     QWERTY     Nordic variant      nb_NO     nn_NO
Poland     QWERTY      Polish variant      pl_PL
Portugal     QWERTY      Portuguese variant      pt_PT
Romania     QWERTY     Romanian variant      ro_RO
Russia     JCUKEN      Cyrillic layout      ru_RU
Spain     QWERTY      with Spanish symbols      es_ES
Sweden     QWERTY      Nordic variant      sv_SE
Switzerland     QWERTZ      de_CH     fr_CH     it_CH
Ukraine Ukrainian layout      ЙЦУКЕН      uk_UA
United Kingdom     QWERTY      en_GB

Alternative or non-standard layouts:
India     mostly ANSI or ISO, input IME for Hindi/Tamil/etc.      hi_IN     ta_IN     bn_IN     en_IN
Japan     JIS 109-key      not ANSI/ISO      ja_JP



Some countries (like China, Japan, Korea, and Arabic-speaking
       regions) use an IME (Input Method Editor), which lets you type
       complex scripts (like Chinese characters or Arabic) using a regular
       keyboard — often QWERTY — by converting typed phonetics or key
       sequences into native characters.

Layouts like QWERTY, AZERTY, and QWERTZ
       refer to the physical key order on your keyboard — especially the
       first six letters on the top row — and can vary greatly between
       countries, even for the same language. [

You may also notice physical differences such as L-shaped
       Enter keys, shorter Left Shift keys, or so-called dead keys (keys that
       don’t output a character until combined with another, like for accents).
       These are usually part of ISO layouts and vary between countries —
       even if they share a language.
       

Statistics: Posted by Wobbo — Sat Oct 11, 2025 4:25 pm

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