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Who uses Accept-Language header?

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Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#11

Post by JimDabell »

maple3142 wrote: post #5
dotancohen wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the language cookie get set in the first place? Is there any option for the user to set his preferred language?

It is a part of browser's settings (for Chrome and Firefox at least), and it is default to system's default language I think.

You’re talking about the Accept-Language header. They are asking about the cookie.

To answer the question, yes, normally you would have some kind of manual switcher that sets the cookie. Please don’t use flags for this, because flags indicate countries, not languages. Don’t make a Russian-speaking Ukrainian seek out the Russian flag, and don’t make an English-speaking Irish person seek out the Union Flag.

Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#12

Post by rrr_oh_man »

JimDabell wrote: post #11
maple3142 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a part of browser's settings (for Chrome and Firefox at least), and it is default to system's default language I think.

You’re talking about the Accept-Language header . They are asking about the cookie. To answer the question, yes, normally you would have some kind of manual switcher that sets the cookie. Please don’t use flags for this, because flags indicate countries, not languages. Don’t make a Russian-speaking Ukrainian seek out the Russian flag, and don’t make an English-speaking Irish person seek out the Union Flag.

> To answer the question, yes, normally you would have some kind of manual switcher that sets the cookie. Please don’t use flags for this, because flags indicate countries, not languages. Don’t make a Russian-speaking Ukrainian seek out the Russian flag, and don’t make an English-speaking Irish person seek out the Union Flag.

Yes, why make things easy. :-)

Controversial opinion: Flags are great as a visual aid, shorthand, look neat, and give a better UX for 90+% of users, even if it hurts some linguists' and nationalists' feelings.

Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#13

Post by nonamesleft »

JimDabell wrote: post #10

> Interestingly, Google does respect the Accept-Language header. While testing in Yelp domain, Google Sign-In widget popup appeared in Japanese. I’m surprised by this. In my experience, Google are the one big organisation that I can count on to get this completely and utterly wrong. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been stuck with a Google interface, popup, or some other thing that is in a language I don’t…

Indeed, google never behaves for me, always hands me language localized to my ip, even though my Accept-Language contains "en-US,en;q=0.9" (the local language is my native one, but i find using services or software that are originally in English translated to my (non-PIE) language awful, even anger-inducing).

For search i have had &hl=en added to the search parameters since forever.

Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#14

Post by sebstefan »

usrusr wrote: post #6

Special mention to Amazon who insist that you want to browse their entire dropshipper directory, on all devices, in the language of whatever you last opened in a non-dubbed version on your TV. (if the original version is even available, they even find ways to offer some BBC shows, of all things, dubbed-only)

I get all of their websites in french (correctly) but some of their emails used to always come in german. I don't speak german, I've never set the language to german, I don't think I had even visited amazon.de at that point.

Then one day it went away. Complete mystery

Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#15

Post by distances »

nonamesleft wrote: post #13
JimDabell wrote: post #10

> Interestingly, Google does respect the Accept-Language header. While testing in Yelp domain, Google Sign-In widget popup appeared in Japanese. I’m surprised by this. In my experience, Google are the one big organisation that I can count on to get this completely and utterly wrong. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been stuck with a Google interface, popup, or some other thing that is in a language I don’t…

Indeed, google never behaves for me, always hands me language localized to my ip, even though my Accept-Language contains "en-US,en;q=0.9" (the local language is my native one, but i find using services or software that are originally in English translated to my (non-PIE) language awful, even anger-inducing). For search i have had &hl=en added to the search parameters since forever.

What works surprisingly often is setting language to en-UK instead. Apparently many sites consider en-US to be some default that they can safely ignore, but en-UK to be a deliberate choice. Nowadays I use that not just for the browser, but for my phone and computer too.

Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#16

Post by iwwr »

This is a problem for me as a language learner on mobile. I set a keyboard with (for example) Russian, and suddenly the world looks Russian, even though I am far from comfortable in it yet. I wish there were a way for the browser to ignore some system languages. This is worse for apps because I also get served with localised versions, where I need to uninstall, remove system language and re-install.

Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#17

Post by tlhunter »

This drives me nuts when I visit foreign countries with a language I don't speak and then the internet stops working. My browser literally tells the server I speak but 90% of the content I get back is suddenly in the wrong language.

Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#18

Post by nicolaslegland »

rrr_oh_man wrote: post #12
JimDabell wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re talking about the Accept-Language header . They are asking about the cookie. To answer the question, yes, normally you would have some kind of manual switcher that sets the cookie. Please don’t use flags for this, because flags indicate countries, not languages. Don’t make a Russian-speaking Ukrainian seek out the Russian flag, and don’t make an English-speaking Irish person seek out the Union Flag.

> To answer the question, yes, normally you would have some kind of manual switcher that sets the cookie. Please don’t use flags for this, because flags indicate countries, not languages. Don’t make a Russian-speaking Ukrainian seek out the Russian flag, and don’t make an English-speaking Irish person seek out the Union Flag. Yes, why make things easy. :-) Controversial opinion: Flags are great as a visual aid, short…

Better yet: Offer en_CA, en_GB, en_IE, and en_US, with appropriate flags.

(Bonus point for fr_CA with the CA-QC flag)

Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#19

Post by tmtvl »

rrr_oh_man wrote: post #12
JimDabell wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re talking about the Accept-Language header . They are asking about the cookie. To answer the question, yes, normally you would have some kind of manual switcher that sets the cookie. Please don’t use flags for this, because flags indicate countries, not languages. Don’t make a Russian-speaking Ukrainian seek out the Russian flag, and don’t make an English-speaking Irish person seek out the Union Flag.

> To answer the question, yes, normally you would have some kind of manual switcher that sets the cookie. Please don’t use flags for this, because flags indicate countries, not languages. Don’t make a Russian-speaking Ukrainian seek out the Russian flag, and don’t make an English-speaking Irish person seek out the Union Flag. Yes, why make things easy. :-) Controversial opinion: Flags are great as a visual aid, short…

I dunno, which flag would serve as a comprehensible shorthand for Arabic? How many Arabic readers would recognise that flag? How many Spanish speakers would recognise the Spanish flag?

If you use flags I would still recommend putting the language name in the language next to it, for example the French flag next to 'Français'.

Re: Who uses Accept-Language header?

#20

Post by edoceo »

JimDabell wrote: post #11
maple3142 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a part of browser's settings (for Chrome and Firefox at least), and it is default to system's default language I think.

You’re talking about the Accept-Language header . They are asking about the cookie. To answer the question, yes, normally you would have some kind of manual switcher that sets the cookie. Please don’t use flags for this, because flags indicate countries, not languages. Don’t make a Russian-speaking Ukrainian seek out the Russian flag, and don’t make an English-speaking Irish person seek out the Union Flag.

I like when the language is in it's own name, eg: Suomi -- makes it easier to find.
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