Untranslated Items — Keep Item Names Original in Minecraft

Untranslated Items Mod: Keep Item Names in English While Playing Minecraft in Your Language

Playing Minecraft in your native language makes the game so much more immersive. In-game manuals, GUI labels, and chat messages all become instantly understandable. But there's a persistent annoyance that multilingual players know all too well: when you switch to a non-English language, item names from mods often remain untranslated or get translated inconsistently. Searching for a specific item in JEI (Just Enough Items) becomes a guessing game — you might need to try both your language and English to find what you need. The Untranslated Items mod elegantly solves this problem by forcing all item names to display in English, regardless of your selected language setting, while keeping everything else in your preferred tongue.

Why Untranslated Items Is a Game-Changer

Minecraft's modding community is vast, and not every mod author has the resources to localize item names into dozens of languages. If you're playing with a language pack set to, say, German or Japanese, you'll often see a mix of translated and untranslated item names. This inconsistency wreaks havoc on inventory management and recipe lookups. Imagine trying to search for "Iron Ingot" in JEI while your language is set to French — you might type "Lingot de fer" and get no results if the mod didn't provide that translation. Then you have to switch your mental gears, guess the English name, and search again. It's a constant, low-level friction that Untranslated Items removes completely.

The mod's core idea is simple: item names stay in English (or any additional language you choose) no matter what. If a translation exists for the current language, that localized name still appears as a secondary line in the tooltip, so you never lose the information. This means you can enjoy fully translated interfaces, quest books, and manuals while always knowing the canonical English name of every item for crafting and searching. For players who rely on JEI, recipe mods, or external wikis, this is a massive quality-of-life improvement.

Key Features That Make Inventory Management Smoother

Untranslated Items packs a surprising amount of flexibility into a client-side mod. Here’s what it brings to your Minecraft experience:

• Unified English item names: All item names are displayed in English, regardless of the current language setting. This includes items from vanilla Minecraft and every mod you have installed.
• Dual-language tooltips: If a localized name exists, it appears on a second line in the tooltip. You can see both the English name and your language’s translation at a glance, which is perfect for learning new words or verifying what an item actually is.
• JEI and Waila compatibility: The mod also affects tooltips in JEI and Waila (or its forks like Jade), so your search results and block information stay consistent. You can search in English and instantly find every item, even if you’re playing with a non-English interface.
• Configurable primary language: While English is the default additional language, you can set any language as the primary one for item names. This is useful if you prefer to keep items in, say, Japanese while playing in Korean, or vice versa.

One of the most appreciated aspects is how unobtrusive the mod is. It doesn’t add any new UI elements or require complex setup. Once installed, it simply works, and you can tweak its behavior through a straightforward config file. If you're using a modern launcher like the foxygame.net launcher, adding Untranslated Items to your modpack is effortless — you can browse and install it directly from the built-in mod menu, no manual file dragging needed.

Configuration Options for Tailored Behavior

The mod gives you fine-grained control over how item names are displayed. All settings are managed through a config file, typically found in the config folder. Here are the main options and what they do:

• replaceItemNames (default: true): When enabled, the primary language for item names becomes the additional language (default English). This means the item name you see first will be in English, and any localized name appears below. If set to false, the primary language is your selected game language, and the additional language is simply added as a second line in tooltips.
• additionalLanguage (default: en_us): Defines which language is used as the additional language for item names. You can change this to any language code, such as ja_jp for Japanese or de_de for German, allowing you to pair two languages in any combination.
• dispBothLanguagesOnTooltip (default: true): Toggles whether both the primary and additional language names appear in the standard item tooltip. Disable this if you only want the primary language shown.
• dispBothLanguagesOnWaila (default: true): Same as above but specifically for Waila/Jade tooltips. If you use those HUD mods, you can control whether dual-language display appears there.

These options make the mod adaptable to many playstyles. For example, if you’re learning a new language, you could set your game to that language, keep replaceItemNames true, and see English names first with translations below — a subtle but effective vocabulary builder. Or if you simply want to keep your inventory English-only while the rest of the game is localized, the defaults work perfectly out of the box.

Compatibility and What to Expect

Untranslated Items is designed as a client-side mod, so it doesn’t need to be installed on servers. It works with most mods that use the standard Minecraft item naming system. However, some mods implement their own multilingual item name handling, and in those rare cases, the mod might not override the names. The developer notes that it may not work for mod items that have multilingual names hardcoded in a unique way, but for the vast majority of mods, it functions flawlessly.

The mod is also safe to include in any modpack. Whether you’re assembling a kitchen-sink pack for a private server or a curated questing experience, Untranslated Items adds no worldgen, no blocks, and no performance overhead. It’s purely a quality-of-life tweak that makes cross-language play much less frustrating.

Why You Should Add Untranslated Items to Your Modpack

If you’ve ever been annoyed by having to guess English item names while your game is in another language, this mod is a must-have. It bridges the gap between localized interfaces and the English-centric modding ecosystem, saving you time and mental energy. The dual-language tooltips are especially helpful for players who enjoy learning languages through gaming, as they provide constant, contextual translations without overwhelming the screen.

Setting it up takes seconds, and once configured, it runs silently in the background. There’s no need to remember to switch languages before a crafting session or to keep a browser tab open with a wiki — the information is right there in your inventory. Combined with the ease of installation through launchers that support one-click mod management, adding Untranslated Items to your setup is a no-brainer.

Final Thoughts

Untranslated Items solves a niche but persistent problem in the Minecraft modding scene. By keeping item names consistently in English while preserving translations in tooltips, it respects both the need for a localized experience and the practical reality of searching and crafting. The mod’s lightweight, configurable nature means it fits into any modpack without conflict, and its client-side design keeps servers simple. If you play Minecraft in a language other than English and use mods, give Untranslated Items a try — your inventory will thank you.

--- **Update Sep 1, 2026:** Added 5 files for version 26.2, 1.21.1, 1.21, 1.20.1 (Forge, Fabric, NeoForge).