Proofing tools for Office 2010

There has been a progression from one version to the next in this regard. In earlier versions, the Proofing Tools were a single huge package (rather expensive) that included proofing tools for every available language. It was not possible to buy Proofing Tools for a single language at a lower cost. Users complained about this. The Proofing Tools package offered only proofing tools; it did not provide for changing the language interface, which required a different package.

So Microsoft tried a new tack, offering Language Packs (which include the language interface, if desired, along with the proofing tools) for specific languages à la carte. Then users complained about having to pay for each language separately.

Office 2013 finally gets it mostly right, offering Language Packs à la carte for any language at no charge.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has been expanding the number of languages served. There is not a Language Pack for every language, but there are Language Interface Packs (just the UI, no proofing tools) for a lot of less-used languages, and languages are constantly being added. It is no small trick to translate the UI of every Office program into another language, and MS doesn't always get it right. For example, there's currently a complaint on file because the Danish-language version uses the wrong word for "website" in citations ("Hentede" instead of "Hentet").

A matter of confusion. I had understood that I needed Proofing Tools and not a Language Pack which I initially understood as a measure to switch the user interface and support language; e.g. from English to French. Turns out that the proofing tools that I require are in the Language Pack. That however I do feel to be a disappointment; needing to pay $25 for just the dictionary and grammar components.

I'm not sure what your issue is. Office 2010 Language Packs are available. They are not free; they never have been. Language Packs for Office 2013 are also available, and they are free. Nothing has changed. It is more likely that Office 2010 Language Packs will become unavailable at any price than that they will become free, so if you need one, you should suck it up and buy it now.

I am having the same problem and I write on May 31, 2014. That's a year since this post. To say that this does not inspire confidence is the epitome of a euphemistic expression.

Anything you can get free will be pirated. You don't have to install the entire language pack; you can install just the Proofing Tools without the UI.