diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f9a8c76f..d659ce12 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Changed
 - [#273] Preview system now calls `Refresh` to avoid double computation
 
+- [#266] NDMF language defaults to being based on the system language.
+
 ### Removed
 - [#277] The `ReactiveQuery` API has been removed to reduce the scope and complexity of this upcoming release
 
diff --git a/Editor/UI/Localization/LanguagePrefs.cs b/Editor/UI/Localization/LanguagePrefs.cs
index 7344e198..a115cfbb 100644
--- a/Editor/UI/Localization/LanguagePrefs.cs
+++ b/Editor/UI/Localization/LanguagePrefs.cs
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ public static class LanguagePrefs
         private static void Init()
         {
             // Exiting playmode destroys the dynamic font assets we create, so we need to recreate and reapply them.
-            Language = EditorPrefs.GetString(EditorPrefKey, "en-us").ToLowerInvariant();
+            Language = EditorPrefs.GetString(EditorPrefKey, GetSystemLanguage()).ToLowerInvariant();
             EditorApplication.playModeStateChanged += evt =>
             {
                 foreach (var fontCallback in _fontUpdateCallbacks.Values)
@@ -44,6 +44,26 @@ private static void Init()
             };
         }
 
+        private static string GetSystemLanguage()
+        {
+            switch (Application.systemLanguage)
+            {
+                case SystemLanguage.Japanese:
+                    return "ja-jp";
+                case SystemLanguage.ChineseSimplified:
+                    return "zh-hans";
+                case SystemLanguage.ChineseTraditional:
+                    return "zh-hant";
+                case SystemLanguage.Korean:
+                    return "ko-kr";
+                case SystemLanguage.Chinese:
+                    // fall through - this case is ambiguous and culturally sensitive, so we'll treat this case as an
+                    // unknown language.
+                default:
+                    return "en-us";
+            }
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// The currently selected language ID, e.g. "en-us".
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/Editor/UI/Localization/zh-Hans.po b/Editor/UI/Localization/zh-Hans.po
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b972c1bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Editor/UI/Localization/zh-Hans.po
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+msgid ""
+msgstr ""
+"Language: zh-Hans\n"
+
+#: This file is kept just so the zh-Hans (chinese simplified) language is registered, so that we can safely default to
+#: it. However, we do not yet have any community translations for this language.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Editor/UI/Localization/zh-Hans.po.meta b/Editor/UI/Localization/zh-Hans.po.meta
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c147cb3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Editor/UI/Localization/zh-Hans.po.meta
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+fileFormatVersion: 2
+guid: 6916b2591b094f87a5d0fff8ae0b2186
+timeCreated: 1718674074
\ No newline at end of file