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Don't guess my language

vitonsky.net

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Re: Don't guess my language

#2
I really wish for a language setting that says: If the original text is in one of the following languages, use the original text. I might not be equally fluent in all of those languages, but reading the original text is better than reading a translation most of the time.

Re: Don't guess my language

#3
Yeah, this is has become of pet peeve of mine since moving to Spain. US sites that automatically redirect me to their Spanish site (which often doesn't have the actual article the original link pointed to!)

Re: Don't guess my language

#4
Yeah I've worked with geolocation databases in the past and they're essentially just hot air. It's wild that even google can't guess my location anywhere close to home. And I live in a big german city, it wouldn't be that difficult to be right. But they've actually never been right about my location. Sketchy is a fitting description.

Re: Don't guess my language

#5
post #2

I really wish for a language setting that says: If the original text is in one of the following languages, use the original text. I might not be equally fluent in all of those languages, but reading the original text is better than reading a translation most of the time.

Modern browsers with auto-translation features always offer the option to "Never translate X" — never translate a language the user speaks.

If websites really need translation (which they very likely do not!), this should be the norm as well.

Re: Don't guess my language

#6

Yeah, this is has become of pet peeve of mine since moving to Spain. US sites that automatically redirect me to their Spanish site (which often doesn't have the actual article the original link pointed to!)

yeah tailscale/wireguard/vpn usually fixes this

but then you have to -know- at which geo you want to operate.

The internet has long been broken as a global field imho

Re: Don't guess my language

#7

Yeah I've worked with geolocation databases in the past and they're essentially just hot air. It's wild that even google can't guess my location anywhere close to home. And I live in a big german city, it wouldn't be that difficult to be right. But they've actually never been right about my location. Sketchy is a fitting description.

Bold of you to assume Google would actually show your their most precise and accurate guess.

Re: Don't guess my language

#8
> You don’t override screen resolution or color scheme with your own guess

They absolutely do lol.

Like it or not, people like you are outnumbered by people who set their Accept-Language header wrong and don't know how to fix it. Those people probably buy more too (or at least buy more that shows up in tracking, since you sound like the kind of person who disables cookies etc. too).

Re: Don't guess my language

#9
My biggest annoyance is with Google. They know who I am, they know I am traveling, they know my language preferences (English) and yet I still get language based on my location on certain pages.

I let you track me Google, please use it for some good UX and not just advertising.

Re: Don't guess my language

#10
post #8

> You don’t override screen resolution or color scheme with your own guess They absolutely do lol. Like it or not, people like you are outnumbered by people who set their Accept-Language header wrong and don't know how to fix it. Those people probably buy more too (or at least buy more that shows up in tracking, since you sound like the kind of person who disables cookies etc. too).

> people like you are outnumbered by people who set their Accept-Language header wrong and don't know how to fix it

Is this actually something that you can back up with data, or are you just guessing?

I find it hard to imagine that would be the case, considering this header generally gets populated by the user's system locale/language.

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