Change the BYD Dolphin language
This page is about the language of the large center screen on the compact Dolphin hatchback. The cluster in front of the driver is a different display. Do this while the car is parked. The steps name the job of each control. A handbook sentence is quoted only for the book it comes from, because the menu wording is not stable across years.
This page does not replace the owner’s manual for your model year and market.
Which cars this covers
This is the compact Dolphin hatchback. It is not the Dolphin G hybrid, and it is not the Seagull, which some markets sell as Dolphin Mini. Published text of a 2023 German Dolphin handbook describes a language choice on the center screen, under system settings, and names Simplified Chinese and English. That is that book’s wording. Export Dolphins from around that period follow the same general idea. China-market Dolphins were on sale earlier, from 2021, and a gray import of those cars often has no such list. Public firmware tables associate the Dolphin name with more than one DiLink generation, including later interface builds. Read the version on the car. This page will not pick one for you. No public video of this hatchback’s own language screen was checked for this page, so none is embedded.
Video of this screen
Video coming soon
No public video of this model’s center screen has been checked and linked yet.
Steps
- 01
Park and wake the center screen
Put the Dolphin in Park and bring the center screen up. Stay parked. A language change can restart the screen. The driver display is not the screen these steps open.
- 02
Open settings without assuming the labels
Open the settings area of the center screen. The 2023 German handbook places the language control under system settings. Your car may use other words or only icons. If you cannot see a control whose job is the display language, stop rather than tapping through items you cannot read.
- 03
Select a language only when the list is real
Where a list exists, that 2023 handbook names Simplified Chinese and English. Later export software in some markets adds languages. Choose one, confirm if asked, and wait out a restart. The center screen should come back in the language you picked. If the list is not there, the software does not contain the choice.
- 04
Look at the cluster and the assistant afterwards
A translated center screen does not establish that warnings on the cluster, or the voice assistant, changed with it. The assistant language, when the software offers one, is often a separate download on Wi-Fi and can be limited to the region the car was built for.
- 05
A Chinese-only menu is a software limit
On a gray-import Dolphin the menu can be Chinese because the China image has no other pack, not because the entry is buried. A camera translation helps you read. It does not install a language. The problems section is the rest of the answer.
When the menu will not change
Gray import, menu only in Chinese
The usual next step is a dealer or a workshop applying a manufacturer-supported update for that VIN. Over-the-air delivery is not guaranteed. China-spec cars often sit outside the export update service. Do not load a firmware file from the internet. A package built for another DiLink generation can blank the screen and can also block whatever official update path the car still had.
You wanted a third language and the list stops at two
Early handbooks name Chinese and English. More languages, when they exist, arrive with a later official software build for that market. They are not a hidden switch. If the dealer cannot match the VIN to an export update, the list will not grow by itself.
Reset, and Chinese is back
A factory reset of the head unit restores the default language of the installed image. A China image defaults to Chinese. You are back at the same limit as before the reset.
Voice stays in Chinese
Menu language and speech language are different settings. Some export software lets you download another assistant language. A China-market Dolphin may offer only Chinese speech. That is a property of the software region.
Common questions
Is the Dolphin G included here?
No. The Dolphin G is a different hybrid. This page is the compact Dolphin hatchback. A video or menu filmed on the G is not evidence for this car.
Why is there no video on this page?
A public clip is embedded only after it has been checked as this model’s own center screen, and as a video YouTube will embed. That check did not find one for the Dolphin hatchback. A generic BYD clip, or a Dolphin G clip, is not used in its place.
Can a dealer update add the language if the menu has none?
Sometimes, on a car the export update service actually covers. A gray import often is not covered. Ask with the VIN. Do not treat a forum package as the same thing.