Languages
VLC uses the fonts installed on your system for your language! The default is the installed language.
This can be changed in Preferences, Interface from the pull down select your language. But you probably can't see this.
So open a DOS box and type: CD "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC" Then type: vlc --language en for English or fr for French
Syntax: --language {auto,en,en_GB,ca,da,de,es,fr,it,ja,ka,ko,nl,oc,pt_BR,ro,ru,tr,
zh_CN,zh_TW}
When VLC opens check to be sure you can read the menus and then open Preferences and press "Save" then close the player.
If you are still having problems with your preferred language you will need to reinstall that language within Windows so that it will fill in the missing or broken fonts in your system.
Just thought about the forum I'm in. Hope your system is Windows
But if it isn't I'm sure someone here will help you get going.