Techniques are disclosed for determining a target language for a communication session and configuring a language mode of an input method editor (IME) to the target language. An example methodology implementing the techniques includes, by a computing device, detecting a communication to a recipient via a software application running on the computing device, determining a target language for the communication, and configuring a language mode of an input method editor to the target language. The target language may be determined based on an attribute or attributes of the recipient of the communication. In some cases, the target language may be determined based on an attribute or attributes of a contents of a prior communication.