As in the title :)
I believe there is an issue if you want to use a Chinese product key to activate another language version, but you should be able to use an English key on another language.
It's indeed not a problem, as long as you are not using a Chinese key.
If your Norton account states language English, you cannot download it from your Norton account, but you must download a seperate install file for the language of your choice, which you can then activate with your English key.
Regards, Hugo
As in the title :)
Hi TheUserOfTheWeb,
Which version do you have? I mean, the language of your version.
Norton has limitation for Simplified chinese key. That is 'Customers who attempt to activate a Norton product with a Simplified Chinese product key that differs from that product language version may wish to return the incorrect key to the reseller they purchased from. Customers who would like to download the English version should purchase the English version of the product or key.'
Refer to the below post -
I beleive, you can activate English keys on different-language version
Hey! I have an English version of Norton but I ran out of licenses and was thinking about getting an additional key, and since Norton products are priced differently in different countries I thought I could catch a bargain. It seems only Simplified Chinese is restricted (at least that was the case at the time of Tony's post a year ago).
I recently installed a Dutch NIS with an English key and earlier several more. Sometimes an English key is delivered through the education software channel here. I don't know why, because the Dutch version was ordered. But....It works.
Regards, Hugo
TheUserOfTheWeb wrote:As in the title :)
As far as I am aware - with the exception of the Simplified Chinese version as noted in other posts in this thread - a Product Key for any language version of NIS is valid for any other language version.
However, there is one "gotcha" for this:
1. Each "Language Version" of a Product Key has a particular sequence of letters which identifies the Language originally purchased.
2. When it comes time to automatically-update the major-product version - (Eg: 21.x to 22.x) Symantec use the sequence of letters within the Product Key to determine which "Language Version" of the product to download - in order to perform the automatic-version-update.
3. Sub-version updates follow the language originally installed (Eg: 21.0.x.x to 21.1.x.x). It is only when updating the major-version-number (Eg 21.x to 22.x) that the sequence of letters within the Product Key are consulted.
4. As a result of the above - leaving "Automatic Download of new Version" enabled in the NIS Control Panel is not recommended for users with a non-native-language Product Key. Doing so invites a "gotcha" which will necessitate download of the proper "Language Version" of the product - removal of the incorrect-language-version using the NRT - and then reinstallation and reactivation of the correct "Language Version".
5. Manual update between major versions (Eg: 21.x to 22.x) can be accomplished without trouble by manually downloading the proper "Language Version" of the product and doing an in-place-upgrade. This allows the user to upgrade to a newer major-version of the product - even though the "Language Version" in the Product Key and the "Language Version" of the product do not match.
6. However - for convenience sake - it is prudent to purchase a Product Key with the user's desired "Language Version" embedded in the Product Key. I recommend this method in 99.99% of situations - because it is common for the user to forget about this issue over the years - until they get "gotcha"d - and have to do an uninstall/reinstall process to solve the problem.
Note: Even if the user properly remembers to deactivate the "Automatic Download of new Version" option the first time through a Product's major-version upgrade cycle - the newly-installed-version on their system may not respect the existing configuration information for this particular option. Thus, the second time through the major-version upgrade cycle - they get "gotcha"d.
Commonly, the requirement to check for this particular situation is so far in the past at the time of a major-version upgrade - users with "Language Version" mismatch forget about this particular "housekeeping item" and their need to ensure "Automatic Download of new Version" is properly deactivated after their current pass through the Product major-version upgrade cycle. Thus, they invite a problem that makes for several hours work to restore their system to proper operation the next time they upgrade.
IMO, the above risk is not worth the trouble it causes. This is especially so, because Murphy guarantees this problem will rear its head precisely at the time when it causes maximum aggravation. 
Consequently, I recommend purchasing a Product Key that has the proper "Language Version" embedded within the Product Key - thereby avoiding the whole issue.
Hope this helps your understanding.
Wow. That's a very detailed answer. Thx!