Formula parse error in Google Sheets (comma vs semicolon, locale)

You paste a VLOOKUP from a US tutorial and the cell shows #ERROR!. The tooltip says Formula parse error. The function name is fine. The commas are not.

Recreate it on a blank sheet

1. Open a new blank spreadsheet. File > Settings > Locale → Germany (or Deutsch / Germany). Reload the spreadsheet so the locale actually applies.
2. In A2 type 101. B2 Widget. D2 101. In A3 type 1,2 so the decimal comma is visible on the sheet. Leave A3 out of the formula.
3. In E2 paste exactly =VLOOKUP(D2,A2:B2,2,FALSE) with commas. The cell shows #ERROR!. The tooltip is Formula parse error.

What is actually wrong

• The argument separator follows this spreadsheet’s locale, not the locale of whoever wrote the tutorial you copied.
• US and UK sheets use commas between arguments. Germany uses a comma as the decimal mark, so formulas use semicolons.
• =SUM(1,2) is a bad demo. On a German locale that can display as 1,2 (a decimal) and never error. Four-argument VLOOKUP is the parse-error you actually get.

Fix

Leave E2 as the broken formula so the parse error stays on the sheet.

In F2 enter =VLOOKUP(D2;A2:B2;2;FALSE) with semicolons. The cell shows Widget.

Do not change your Google account language. The only settings change is this spreadsheet: File > Settings > Locale, then reload.