A method and apparatus for setting a language in a television receiver enable one language setting operation performed in a first menu, corresponding to one of a plurality of language-specific functions, to automatically set a preferred language for one or more other functions. The method includes steps of setting a language in a first menu according to a user selection, the first menu corresponding to one function of a plurality of language-specific functions; and automatically setting a language of at least one other function of the plurality of language-specific functions to the language set according to the user selection, the language of the at least one other function being set interoperably with the first menu. Thus, if at least one language is selected in the first menu, a language of at least one other function is set to the first-menu language. Upon powering a television receiver receiving a transport stream from a broadcasting station, a tuner tunes a broadcast signal of a corresponding channel, whereupon additional information is parsed from the tuned transport stream to extract information of every language being provided. The extracted information is then stored in memory so that, according to a user selection of a first menu for performing a language setting operation, the stored language information can be simultaneously output as an audio signal and displayed on a screen to enable user recognition.