Get started with LanguageTool

What LanguageTool is

A spell checker tells you that a word exists. LanguageTool tells you whether the sentence holds up. It finds split compounds, errors with "de" and "dem", words repeated twice in a row, and phrasings that are more complicated than they need to be. It does this in Swedish, in English and in around twenty other languages.

For a company, it is the difference between a quote that looks thought through and one that looks put together at the last minute. The customer does not know how small your company is, and does not need to find out from a split compound in the first sentence of the email.

The usual way to use LanguageTool is an extension in the browser that corrects while you write, whether you write in Gmail, in Google Docs, in a form or in a chat.

Windows and Linux Mint: the same path

The operating systems do not differ here, since the work is done in the browser. Go to languagetool.org and install the extension for the browser you use, for example Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari or Opera. After installation, a small icon appears in the lower right corner of every text box you write in.

Set the language to Swedish right away. The extension guesses the language automatically and guesses wrong in short texts, which gives strange suggestions for a Swedish sentence that starts with an English word.

If you write in LibreOffice instead of in the browser, there is an extension for that too, from the same page.

Your own server, and why you probably do not want one

LanguageTool can run on your own computer, and the project's own documentation is clear about what that involves. It explicitly calls it something for experienced users who are comfortable with the command line, and recommends everyone else use the cloud version. The local server also lacks the AI-based rules, which only exist in the cloud, and the Windows desktop app does not work with it.

If you still want to try, you need Java installed and the zip file with the server from the project's developer page. The server is then started from a terminal with a command in this form:

java -cp languagetool-server.jar org.languagetool.server.HTTPServer --config server.properties --port 8081

We do not go through that route in detail here, because we have not been able to test it from start to finish on a Mint computer. If you want to go there, start at dev.languagetool.org and read the whole page before you begin.

Three things to do first

1. Set the language to Swedish in the extension, and turn it on for the pages you actually write in.
2. Run a text you have already sent through the check. It is uncomfortable and useful, and it shows which mistakes you make often.
3. Decide who in the company reads through quotes and mailings last. A tool does not replace that person, it makes their job shorter.

The most common trap

Trusting the suggestions. LanguageTool flags a sentence as wrong when it looks unusual, and an unusual sentence can be exactly right. A product name you invented is flagged as a misspelling every time. A quote from a customer should stay as the customer said it.

Read the suggestion, understand why it came up, and reject it when you know better. The extension has a button for adding your own words to the dictionary; use it on the company name on day one, and you avoid seeing the same red lines for six months.