Sample font displays in other languages
Language |
Phrase |
Translation |
Uses all letters? |
|---|---|---|---|
Bulgarian |
Под южно дърво, цъфтящо в синьо, бягаше малко пухкаво зайче. |
А little fluffy young rabbit ran under a southern tree blooming in blue |
Yes |
Czech |
Příliš žluťoučký kůň úpěl ďábelské ódy. |
A too yellow horse moaned devil odes. |
no (but it uses all characters with diacritics) |
Chinese |
視野無限廣，窗外有藍天 |
The view is infinitely wide. There is blue sky outside the window. |
no (such a sentence would be for all intents and purposes impossible; there are literally tens of thousands of Chinese characters.) |
Danish |
Quizdeltagerne spiste jordbær med fløde, mens cirkusklovnen Walther spillede på xylofon. |
The quiz contestants ate strawberries with cream while Walther the clown was playing the xylophone. |
Yes |
Dutch |
Dad's wise lynx piously regarded the substantial aqueduct. |
yes (and not including accents) |
|
Esperanto |
Eĥoŝanĝo ĉiuĵaŭde. |
Change of echo every Thursday. |
no (but contains all characters specific to Esperanto) |
Estonian |
See väike mölder jõuab rongile hüpata |
This small miller is able to jump on the train |
no (only alphabet containing non-foreign words) |
Finnish |
Viekas kettu punaturkki laiskan koiran takaa kurkki. |
The cunning red-coated fox peeped from behind the lazy dog. |
no |
French |
Voix ambiguë d'un cœur qui au zéphyr préfère les jattes de kiwis. |
Ambiguous voice of a heart which prefers dishes of kiwis in the breeze [used in Windows XP] |
yes, including diacritics except circumflex and cedilla |
Portez ce vieux whisky au juge blond qui fume. |
Bring this old whisky to the blond smoking judge. |
yes, but no diacritics |
|
German |
Zwölf Boxkämpfer jagen Viktor quer über den großen Sylter Deich |
Twelve boxing fighters drive Viktor over the great Sylt Dike |
yes (including umlauts and ß) |
Franz jagt im komplett verwahrlosten Taxi quer durch Bayern. |
Franz drives all across Bavaria in a totally run-down taxi. |
yes (lacking umlauts and ß) |
|
Greek |
Θέλει αρετή και τόλμη η ελευθερία. (Ανδρέας Κάλβος) |
Liberty requires virtue and mettle. (Andreas Kalvos) |
no |
Ο καλύμνιος σφουγγαράς ψιθύρισε πως θα βουτήξει χωρίς να διστάζει. |
The Calymnian spongeman wispered that he 'll dive without hesitating. |
yes (not all accented letters included) |
|
Hebrew |
דג סקרן שט לו בים זך אך לפתע פגש חבורה נחמדה שצצה כך. |
A curious fish sailed a clear sea, and suddenly found nice company that just popped up. |
yes, but with no distinction between regular and final forms. |
Hungarian |
Egy hűtlen vejét fülöncsípő, dühös mexikói úr Wesselényinél mázol Quitóban. |
An angry Mexican man, who caught his faithless son-in-law, is painting Wesselényi's house in Quito. |
no |
Italian |
Ma la volpe, col suo balzo, ha raggiunto il quieto Fido. |
But the fox, with its jump, reached the calm dog |
no |
Japanese |
いろはにほへと ちりぬるを わかよたれそ つねならむ うゐのおくやま けふこえて あさきゆめみし ゑひもせす |
Even colours and sweet perfume / Will eventually fade / Even our world / Is not eternal / The deep mountains of vanity / Cross them today / And superficial dreams / Shall no longer delude you. (from Iroha-uta) |
all non-voiced Hiragana except ん |
Korean |
다람쥐 헌 쳇바퀴에 타고파. (Windows Vista) |
A squirrel wants to ride on an old hamster wheel. |
uses all basic consonants but not all vowels |
Windows가 지원하는 한글 글꼴 1234567890 (Windows XP) |
A Hangul font supported by Windows 1234567890 |
no |
|
무궁화꽃이 활짝 피었습니다 (Windows 2000/ME) |
Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus; a Korean national symbol) bloomed brightly |
no |
|
아름답고 좋은 우리 말 우리 글 Windows 한글판 (Windows 98) |
Our language and our script which are beautiful and good; Windows Hangul version |
no |
|
마이크로소프트 (Windows 95) |
Microsoft |
no |
|
Latvian |
Sarkanās jūrascūciņas peld pa jūru. |
Red seapigs swim in the sea. |
no |
Norwegian (bokmål) |
En god stil må først og fremst være klar. Den må være passende. Aristoteles. |
A good essay must first and foremost be clear. It must be appropriate. Aristotle. |
no |
Portuguese |
Vejam a bruxa da raposa Salta-Pocinhas e o cão feliz que dorme regalado. |
Watch the witch of the Jump-Puddles fox and the happy dog that sleeps delighted. |
no |
Brazilian Portuguese |
A ligeira raposa marrom ataca o cão preguiçoso. |
The quick brown fox attacks the lazy dog. |
no |
Brazilian Portuguese |
Zebras caolhas de Java querem passar fax para moças gigantes de New York |
Strabic zebras from Java want to pass a fax to giant girls from New York. |
yes |
Polish |
Pchnąć w tę łódź jeża lub ośm skrzyń fig |
Push into this boat a hedgehog or eight boxes of figs. |
yes |
Romanian |
Agera vulpe maronie sare peste câinele cel leneş. |
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
no |
Russian |
Съешь ещё этих мягких французских булок да выпей же чаю |
Eat some more of these soft French buns and drink some tea [used in Windows XP] |
yes |
Serbian (Cyrillic alphabet) |
Чешће цeђење мрeжастим џаком побољшава фертилизацију генских хибрида. |
More frequent filtering through the reticular bag improves fertilization of genetic hybrids. |
yes |
Serbian (Latin alphabet) |
Češće ceđenje mrežastim džakom poboljšava fertilizaciju genskih hibrida. |
More frequent filtering through the reticular bag improves fertilization of genetic hybrids. |
yes |
Slovak |
Kŕdeľ šťastných ďatľov učí pri ústí Váhu mĺkveho koňa obhrýzať kôru a žrať čerstvé mäso. |
A flock of happy woodpeckers by the mouth of the river Vah is teaching a silent horse to nibble on bark and feed on fresh meat. (Modified sentence which contains all accents and diacritics.) |
yes |
Spanish |
El veloz murciélago hindú comía feliz cardillo y kiwi. La cigüeña tocaba el saxofón detrás del palenque de paja. |
The quick Hindu bat was happily eating thistle and kiwi. The stork played the sax behind the straw palisade. |
yes |
Swedish |
Flygande bäckasiner söka strax hwila på mjuka tuvor. |
Flying snipes soon look to rest on soft grass beds. (Obsolete Swedish spelling and grammar) |
except Q and Z |
Thai |
เป็นมนุษย์สุดประเสริฐเลิศคุณค่า |
Being a man is worthy |
except ฦ |
Turkish |
Pijamalı hasta, yağız şoföre çabucak güvendi |
Patient with pajamas, trusted swarthy driver quickly |
yes |
How Fonts Work in Microsoft Windows
In Windows, the sample text message is stored inside Fontview.EXE, which can be seen when using Font Viewer. In Windows 3.1 or higher, the sentence became The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 1234567890, which also tests numbers.
In Windows 95 or higher, Windows Font Viewer displays an alternative message when viewing a TrueType (including OpenType) font not encoded in Symbol, with the same font name as the one already installed to the system font directory, and the code page supported by the font depends on following conditions:
- For English Windows, a font does not contain code pages native to the operating system.
- For non-English Windows, a font does not contain code pages native to the operating system, or contains a code page matching the primary code page of the operating system. Code page 1252 is considered a native code page for non-English Windows.
In ANSI-encoded operating systems, Windows Font Viewer will try to display alternate message as if it is encoded in the operating system's primary code page.
The alternative message is stored in String resource number 249 within Windows Font Viewer executable. The actual message is individually customized for different language releases of the operating system. The messages have been updated in XP and Vista, but the alternative phrase no longer exists in the English font viewer.
In Windows XP, alternative message is displayed without first installing the font to system font directory.
English alternative messages
Operating system |
message |
|---|---|
Windows 95 |
Windows 95 |
Windows 98 |
? |
Windows ME |
Windows Millennium Edition |
Windows NT |
? |
Windows 2000 |
? |
Windows XP |
Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz. 123456890 |
Windows Vista |
? |