Knowledgebase
How to install Drupal with a different default language
Drupal comes prepackaged only with English, and that's its default language. After you install Drupal you can add other languages, but if you want to, you can install it with a default language other than English.
During the installation you can choose the language at the language step of the set up process. This is at the beginning of the process when Drupal is still in fact not installed, so if you're at this step of the installation process it's not too late to use the suggestion that follows in this article.
First, you need to download the language from the translations section of the official Drupal site. You can choose from many different languages. Download the language file corresponding to the Drupal version. The downloaded language file on your local computer should be a .po file. Its name should consist of the Drupal version and an abbreviation of the language. For example, the French language file for Drupal version 7.11 would be labeled drupal-7.11.fr.po (that language file would actually be suitable for other 7.x versions).
Before you upload the Drupal installation pack to your Drupal hosting account, you have to put that language file in the folder /profiles/standard/translations. This of course will work if you choose the standard profile during the installation. If you want to use the minimal profile, put it in /profiles/minimal/translations. You shouldn't have troubles finding the location; the profiles folder is a direct subfolder of the main Drupal directory that's in the installation archive.
In case you have already uploaded Drupal to your account but you haven't installed it yet, or at least you have not passed the database step of the installation process (meaning that the database is still not populated), you can upload the language file to the same location on your account. For example, if the application is in a folder called drupal directly in the public_html directory on your account, and you want to use the standard profile, you should upload the language .po file in public_html/drupal/profiles/standard/translations. In case you have started the installation, but the application is not installed in the database, after you upload the language file refresh/restart the process by opening the URL address corresponding to the location of Drupal on your account (e.g. yourdomain.com/drupal), and change the default language at the language step of the installation wizard.