I am using VIM for a while, but never faces such a problem. When i connect to my desktop Ubuntu PC via ssh from a tablet (Asus tf Prime) using terminal emulator (screen-256-colors) I got my vim in Chinese... On desktop it is correctly working in English. I've tried to set set langmenu=en_US.UTF-8 language en_US.UTF-8 but it do not help... See screenshot You may find my configuration on github