FOREIGN LANGUAGE function flips back to English for no apparent reason.

When I try to type an entire page in Russian or any other foreign language (in Microsoft WORD) the little flag at the top of the iMac screen flips from the language flag to the American flag every time I move to a new line, or sometimes even while I'm on the same line. Also, if I want to edit a word typed in a foreign language, one would think that a changed letter within the word could be entered in the same language, but not so. Any change appears in English, and I must first click on the appropriate language flag AGAIN to get the correction the way I want it.

I have tried using a Russian font as well as selecting Russian as one of the languages in my preferences. Nothing seems to work for me. And it sure gets tedious to have to return to the language flags 400+ times for every page I want to type.

Is there any setting I can use to lock the language in place?

USA english is the default.
After you change the Region settings, down at the bottom the of page in the left hand corner you will see a open or closed lock. After you change your settings, click the lock if its open to close it and the settings will remain the same

Thank you Mjc.americor,
I think we're on the right track. But I can't find anything in System Preferences about "Region," so going any further than that with your instructions is impossible. I'm still a relative novice although I have been using Macs ever since they came out. So what might be a rather simply thing for you to find may be more of a challenge for me.
So where do I go to find the setting for "Region"? Even then I may have to come back to you to walk me through the rest of the process. I appreciate very much your efforts to assist me!
MacMan7

Are you pressing Command - Space at any time?

That shortcut will cycle through the active languages on the mac

To disable that shortcut, go to system preferences > Keyboard and Mouse and select the keyboard shortcuts tab.

About 3/4 the way down is input menu, you can turn it off there. You might also want to disable Universal Access shortcuts as well (near the top) as they can be accidentally activated and often cause confusion when turned on

Thanks for your reply, louishen,
We must be using different systems. When I press Command-Space the "Spotlight" feature of System OSX10.5.4 shows up in the right-hand corner of the screen. That action does not cycle through the active languages, unfortunately.

As to disabling that shortcut, I don't even see it listed. I did try disabling the Universal Access shortcuts, however, but that didn't solve the problem of the seemingly uncontrolable jumping back and forth of the font from Russian to English. At least I have one more thing to try that didn't work. So thanks for your help in narrowing that list down.