I find the Set Language functionality to be the same in 2007 & 2002/3 - one
click drops down a list of languages, with the ones for which proofing tools
are installed at the top. So the location of the control has changed (title
bar instead of toolbar), but that's just a cosmetic, not a functional change.
Also, you can assign commands to KB shortcuts, because keeping your hands on
the keyboard instead of reaching for the mouse is the fastest and preferred
mode of operation for professional writers. If you want to do that with
SetLanguage, be aware that on the KB shortcut dialog, it is listed as
ToolsLanguage on the Review Tab

Hi Dario,

If you right click on the status bar at the bottom of the Word 2007 screen one of the choices is to have it show you the language of
a selected text.

Double clicking the language on the status bar will also bring up the older style [set] language dialog, to apply a language
directly to a Word if you're not using Styles to also include language attributes.  If you select text that includes more than one
language the status bar seems to usually show the first language encountered in the selection (same as prior versions).

FWIW, the 'Home card' would be 'Home Tab' in the 'Ribbon' :)

As in prior versions you can switch off the automatic keyboard switching throug the Word Options
  Office Button(File)=>Word Options=>Advanced=>Editing Options
and turn off
[ ] Automatically switch keyboard to match langue of surrounding text.

The Ribbon is XML based and can be modified or replaced, but unfortunately not through the User Interface.  There are several 3rd
party apps that provide variants of the older interface by customizing the ribbon, such as http://pschmid.net .  The only one that I
recall that allows you to have older style custom floating toolbars is http://toolbartoggle.com  You may find a comparison of the
two at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CustomizeRibbon.htm to useful (be sure to scroll down past the unusually large 'white
space' region near the beginning of the article <g>).

The right click context menus can still be customized but requires Word VBA to set it up now.  I don't recall the language set
choice to be a default one in the right click menu in Word 2003, but was easily added. You may want to use the link below to also
post in the Word VBA discussion group on that topic, on being able to add a specific command to the right click menu for text.

In general, other than the location of the Word Options commands moving to a new location for setting the features from Word 2003
mentioned in MVP Cindy Meister's article at
 http://hompage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister/LangFmt.htm
still apply in Word 2007.

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But in Word XP there was the possibility to have the language field in the
toolbar. I was used to place that field close to the style field so that
setting a language was a matter of a click. Now I have to place that button in the Quick Access toolbar, open a panel, and set a
language. This crazy if I have several foreign language in a single phrase, which is quite common when you write an ITC document in
a non-English language, since a lot of ICT terms are English. Furthermore I cannot understand how to customize ribbons. I could
customize toolbars: that was incredibly useful because I could really improve my productivity by tuning the toolbar exactly as I
needed. It looks like ribbons cannot be changed, and that is really annoying, because they often contains a lot useless (for me, of
course) commands, and the most used commands are distributed among several ribbons. I cannot move all of them in the Quick Access
bar, since I would have a single long bar, less friendly than few specialized toolbars. I am very disappointed by the new layout. It
is probably easier for dummy users but really a mess for
professional writers.