How do you start IBM Rational Software Development Platform products in a language

You want to use the product in a language in which you are more proficient.

You can change the default language setting by either passing an argument to the executable: rationalsdp.exe/eclipse.exe or by adding an argument to the ini file read at start by the tool: rationalsdp.ini/eclipse.ini/config.ini.

(The menus in languages different from English are, in any case, only available if you have installed the optional Language Pack or the plugins that you are interested in has/have been localized.) 

Here are examples, for each versions, showing how to start the Rational Software Development Platform in English even though the Operating System is in any of the following languages: Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, or Traditional Chinese.

For version 6.0.x:

• Start IBM Rational Software Development Platform executable (rationalsdp.exe) with the -nl argument followed by the language en_US (for United States English) such as:
  rationalsdp.exe -nl en_US

OR

• Add the variable VMArgs=-Duser.language=en into the file rationalsdp.ini under the individual VMArgs section as shown below:
  
  ; Add other individual VMArgs with additional VMArgs keys i.e.
  ; VMArgs=arg1
  ; VMArgs=arg2
  VMArgs=-Duser.language=en
  
  

Both  rationalsdp.exe  and  rationalsdp.ini   are located by default in: 
<IBM_INSTALL_DIR>\rational\SPD\6.0
(for example,  C:\Program Files\IBM\Rational\SDP\6.0 )

For version 7.0.x:

• Start IBM Rational Software Delivery Platform with the -nl argument followed by the language en_US (for United States English) such as:
  IBM Rational Software Architect
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rsa.product.ide
  IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rad.product.ide
  IBM Rational Software Modeler
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rsm.product.ide 
  IBM Rational Systems Developer
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rsd.product.ide
  

OR

• Add the variable VMArgs=-Duser.language=en into the file eclipse.ini under the VMArgs section as shown below:
  ...
  -vmargs
  -Duser.language=en
  -Xquickstart
  ...
  
  

Both  eclipse.exe  and  eclipse.ini   are located by default in: 
<IBM_INSTALL_DIR>\SPD70
(for example,  C:\Program Files\IBM\SDP70 )

For version 7.5.x:

• Start IBM Rational Software Delivery Platform with the -nl argument followed by the language en_US (for United States English) such as:
  IBM Rational Software Architect for WebSphere
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rsa4ws.product.v75.ide
  IBM Rational Application Developer
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rad.product.v75.ide
  IBM Rational Software Modeler
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rsm.product.v75.ide
  IBM Rational Software Architect Standard Edition
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rsastd.product.v75.ide
  

OR

• Add the variable VMArgs=-Duser.language=en into the file eclipse.ini under the VMArgs section as shown below:
  ...
  -vmargs
  -Duser.language=en
  -Xquickstart
  ...
  

Both  eclipse.exe  and  eclipse.ini   are located by default in: 
<IBM_INSTALL_DIR>\SPD
(for example,  C:\Program Files\IBM\SDP )

OR

• Add osgi.nl=en to the end of the config.ini file located under <IBM_INSTALL_DIR>\SPD\configuration

For version 8.0.x:

• Start IBM Rational Software Delivery Platform with the -nl argument followed by the language en_US (for United States English) such as:
  IBM Rational Software Architect for WebSphere
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rsa4ws.product.v80.ide
  IBM Rational Software Architect
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rsa.product.v80.ide
  IBM Rational Application Developer
  "eclipse.exe" -nl en_US -product com.ibm.rational.rad.product.v80.ide

OR

• Add the variable VMArgs=-Duser.language=en into the file eclipse.ini under the VMArgs section as shown below:
  ...
  -vmargs
  -Duser.language=en
  -Xquickstart
  ...
  
  

Both  eclipse.exe  and  eclipse.ini   are located by default in: 
<IBM_INSTALL_DIR>\SPD
(for example,  C:\Program Files\IBM\SDP )

OR

• Add osgi.nl=en to the end of the config.ini file located under <IBM_INSTALL_DIR>\SPD\configuration