[Guide] How to install SK or CZ language on a Chinese version of a phone without root

Chinese phone versions are often significantly cheaper than global ones, but they frequently have only Chinese and English in the system. However, you can get Slovak or Czech into them even without root, unlocking the bootloader, or using a PC. All you need is one app from the Play Store, change one value, and restart the phone—after that, most apps switch to Slovak, the ones where we spend most of our time.

The process was suggested by our partner TradingShenzhen, which sells Chinese phones and also recommends this method to its customers. We tried it on the Chinese version of the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, and since it’s a standard Android setting, it should work on Chinese OPPO, OnePlus, Vivo, and Realme phones as well.

Why the Chinese version doesn’t have Slovak and what SetEdit will do for you

Manufacturers only include the languages they need for the domestic market in the Chinese firmware, and Slovak usually isn’t among them. Google, Facebook, and banking apps, however, include Slovak translations and choose the language based on a system value that tells which language settings the phone uses. This value can be changed by the SetEdit app, which modifies the Android settings database.

The result won’t be a fully Slovak system, because no app will generate the texts that are missing in the firmware. But Play Store, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Facebook, Messenger, banking apps, and other apps that support Slovak will switch to Slovak—and according to TradingShenzhen, we spend most of our time on the phone in them.

Until now, people used the MoreLocale 2 app, which, however, often required a computer or terminal commands and on Xiaomi phones from March 2024 it stopped working. SetEdit is simpler, because you do everything directly on the phone.

How to set Slovak via SetEdit

Before you start, leave the phone’s system language set to English. Then follow these steps:

1. Open the Play Store and install the app SetEdit (Settings Database Editor).
2. Launch SetEdit and if the app asks for a settings table, leave the selected System Table.
3. Scroll through the list all the way down, then go a bit back up until you find the item system_locales.
4. Tap it and choose value editing (Edit Value).
5. Rewrite the original value, e.g. en-US, to sk-SK; for Czech, enter cs-CZ.
6. Save the change with the Save Changes button, and close SetEdit.
7. Restart your phone, because the new setting will only take effect after a restart.

We also show the whole process in a short video on our channel, where we set Slovak on the Chinese version of the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. On other brands, SetEdit looks the same—only the surrounding system differs.

In SetEdit, don’t change anything else besides the system_locales item. The app has access to the system settings database, and an incorrect change to another value can cause the phone to behave unexpectedly. The developer themselves also warns about this in the app right at the first launch.

What to watch out for after setting Slovak

The app sometimes remembers the language after installation, so for example Chrome may stay in English even after a restart. Just uninstall it and download it again from the Play Store, and then it will start in Slovak. So the easiest way is to make the change in SetEdit right when setting up a new phone, and only then install the other apps.

• System settings will mostly stay in English, or partially in Chinese, because Slovak texts are missing from the firmware.
• Don’t switch the system language in the classic settings. The change would overwrite the value of system_locales and apps would switch back to English.
• After a major system update, the value may revert to the original one. Just reopen SetEdit and set sk-SK again.
• Find a different language code in the ISO codes list. For example, German is de-DE and Hungarian is hu-HU.

Is it worth it?

If, with the Chinese version, it was mainly English in apps that bothered you, this is the easiest solution we know. It takes a few minutes, doesn’t require a computer or root, and you can undo it anytime by changing the value back to en-US. If you want the whole system settings in Slovak too, you usually can’t avoid it with the global version. Before buying, though, it’s worth checking whether some Chinese models have Slovak directly in the system—like the Chinese Honor Magic9 Pro Max.

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