Changing OS language from Chinese to English

So, the school I'm working for has given me a laptop with XP installed - in Chinese. I can remember about enough to get by here and there but TBH it's a bit of a pain. And while I want to learn Chinese, I don't really want to start with a load of computer jargon:

in other words i'm slack

can anyone suggest a program/patch I could get hold of to convert the chinese to English? I have the worst connection in the world here (it comes and goes and is about as fast as a snail on acid) so any help would be gratefully recieved.

Cheers

On Windows, I think you need to actually install the English Windows.

IE, you're stuck.

You could try downloading a Linux Live CD and using that - otherwise I can't really help!

Indeed- If its a chinese copy, there's not much you can do to change it.

Errrr

Could you ask to see if they will allow you to install a foreign version?

1) Learn Windows backwards and inside out then you will never need to read the computer again.
2) You will indeed need to install a fresh english copy. Unfortunatly, you cant simply change the language over with the click of a mouse

Whats your point?

damn. Oh well, thanks for all your advice guys. Any recommendations for easy to use alternative OSs to download?

http://www.knoppix.org/ is good - but it will take some getting used to. On the plus side, there is no install at all - just download it, burn to CD/DVD and reboot your computer!

It would be a good idea to have a USB stick to put all your files on.

with XP you need to install the Multi Language Interface (MUI) pack, and set it up. It does take up a fair bit of space for each language (about 300Mb for Japanese if I remember correctly)

I used it while in Japan so all the visitors to the guesthouse could use the computers there, and it was pretty simple. Just created a bunch of users and associated each one with a language (and made pretty flag icons for the log in screen).