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Ask HN: Why do sites insist on local language?

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Re: Ask HN: Why do sites insist on local language?

#11

Post by lxgr »

toast0 wrote: post #7

You can't use browser or OS settings are english as an indicator that people want english, because english is usually the default and a lot of people end up with english based computing without meaning to or without english literacy. It would be different if there were a different accept-language set for user intentionally picked english vs default though. But approximately 3 people set the browser language settings…

> approximately 3 people set the browser language settings ever

But I'd guess most people select their preferred language when initially setting up their device, which usually informs their browser language, no?

> and nobody respects them

In my experience, many most multilingual sites do respect them! (This sometimes throws me off when the non-English version of a site is automatically/badly translated and I have to manually switch to English, but I can see how it makes sense for most users.)

Re: Ask HN: Why do sites insist on local language?

#12

Post by lxgr »

mtz_federico wrote: post #6

They should at least show a prompt asking if the user wants to use the first language in their accept-language or the one from their IP.

Showing modal prompts on an initial page visit is an easy way to annoy users, though. A language selector in some prominent location will do just fine.

Re: Ask HN: Why do sites insist on local language?

#13

Post by carlosjobim »

toast0 wrote: post #7

You can't use browser or OS settings are english as an indicator that people want english, because english is usually the default and a lot of people end up with english based computing without meaning to or without english literacy. It would be different if there were a different accept-language set for user intentionally picked english vs default though. But approximately 3 people set the browser language settings…

English hasn't been the default for OS or browsers since 1995.

Re: Ask HN: Why do sites insist on local language?

#14

Post by marginalia_nu »

lxgr wrote: post #11
toast0 wrote: post #7

You can't use browser or OS settings are english as an indicator that people want english, because english is usually the default and a lot of people end up with english based computing without meaning to or without english literacy. It would be different if there were a different accept-language set for user intentionally picked english vs default though. But approximately 3 people set the browser language settings…

> approximately 3 people set the browser language settings ever But I'd guess most people select their preferred language when initially setting up their device, which usually informs their browser language, no? > and nobody respects them In my experience, many most multilingual sites do respect them! (This sometimes throws me off when the non-English version of a site is automatically/badly translated and I have to…

To make matters worse, it's not uncommon for the language to be hard coded via the OEM version of the OS.

Re: Ask HN: Why do sites insist on local language?

#15

Post by netsharc »

kbrannigan wrote: post #2

Since you're a dev you can adjust the settings to your needs. Change it to klingon if you want. The average user might not know so it's easier to default English is not the only language in the world.

But it gets obnoxious. take your laptop with all the cookies identifying you to a different country? "Oh you must want Google in Swahili!"... Google you must know I don't know Swahili!

Re: Ask HN: Why do sites insist on local language?

#16

Post by netsharc »

harrydehal wrote: post #10
toast0 wrote: post #7

You can't use browser or OS settings are english as an indicator that people want english, because english is usually the default and a lot of people end up with english based computing without meaning to or without english literacy. It would be different if there were a different accept-language set for user intentionally picked english vs default though. But approximately 3 people set the browser language settings…

We run a high-traffic (millions per day) website and found that for certain cohorts, we saw up to 25% of users in Canada and Australia identifying themselves a "en-us" (English United States) from their default browser language... The number is shockingly high.

Why is it shocking? Those users presumably understand American English...

Re: Ask HN: Why do sites insist on local language?

#17

Post by lxgr »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #14
lxgr wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> approximately 3 people set the browser language settings ever But I'd guess most people select their preferred language when initially setting up their device, which usually informs their browser language, no? > and nobody respects them In my experience, many most multilingual sites do respect them! (This sometimes throws me off when the non-English version of a site is automatically/badly translated and I have to…

To make matters worse, it's not uncommon for the language to be hard coded via the OEM version of the OS.

This used to be true for Windows, but I don't think it is anymore. At least on the last version I used, I was able to change the UI language (but that was also marketed as an "Ultimate Edition perk" or something similar, so I'm not sure if OEM versions are still language-locked).

Where it probably gets tricky is for languages that operating systems are not commonly available in – users presumably have less of an incentive to set the correct locale if it does not make an immediate difference (assuming it is even offered in the setup dialog).

Re: Ask HN: Why do sites insist on local language?

#18

Post by m-p-3 »

MandieD wrote: post #5

Even worse: when a translation of the page you clicked on into the language the site is forcing into your browser to doesn't exist/isn't properly linked, so you get bounced to the homepage in said language, possibly in a domain registered in said language's main country...

Best Buy is particularly awful for that.

You search for something online, you get a result to bestbuy.com. Tells you there's a Canadian website, but just redirects you to the bestbuy.ca homepage. It's infuriating.

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