How do I reinstall ML in English on a Macbook Air that was originally in Chinese?

This is a copy of my question that got posted in the wrong thread..
I'm trying to help a friend who was given a used 13" MacBook Air (A1369) by the Chinese exchange student staying with him. It needed a screen repair, which was done, and we were able to change the display menus to English which is fine for general use. BUT... The previous owner had all kinds of Chinese games and programs as well as a partitioned HD. The plan was to just erase and reinstall Mountain Lion (which it came with, we THINK) and he'd have a fresh start.
Using the Recovery system would be great, except that since the comp was from China, and the ID associated with it is in Chinese, all of the instructions, menus and EVERYTHING are in Chinese. We can get online fine, and tried booting from a USB drive but everything is still in Chinese. We got as far as making a bootable USB and it looked like everything was OK, and started the erase/restore process but it got stuck in Chinese instructions and menus!!!
Is there a way to buy new copy of Mountain Lion with a new Apple ID that will be in English and then install it on a computer that was already running Mountain Lion? It seems I should be able to DL the OS to a USB drive and then just boot and install from that. But I'd have to DL on another Mac with its own ID running Lion. (Or use a Linux PC which seems like an even worse option.)
Any ideas? Suggestions? Laughter?
Thanks!

You've got me. You may well need to repartition the drive.
One thing I did remark in your post is that you purchased and downloaded Mountain Lion using your friend's Apple ID. That is a mistake. You must use your own Apple ID. The license is tied to the Apple ID. The copy you now have you cannot use under your Apple ID. You can install it with your friend's Apple ID and continue to use it, but you will not be able to update it nor do anything else with it that requires an Apple ID. You need to purchase and download Mountain Lion using your Apple ID, not your friend's.
When you run the installer for the first time it typically requests you choose a language. Be sure you select English. Don't click through assuming English will be the default.
Beyond this I don't know enough to make a further suggestion. Perhaps it's something embedded in the firmware of products going to the Chinese market.
If someone doesn't come up with a decent solution, then you might want to contact Apple Customer Support:
Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 or visit online Help for more information.
To contact product and tech support: Apple - Support - Contact Apple Support.

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