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Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

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Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#71

Post by theodric »

Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #54
theodric wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I built a Firefox extension to inject this sort of thing automatically, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to shill it here. It's not like I'm getting paid for it...

hey! Quick suggestion but if you create an firefox extension, please open source it. It immensely boosts my trust in an extension and I doubt that it would be considered a shill (atleast in my book) if you open source it and I don't think that you earn from the extension but if its open source and people like it, it opens up a pathway where people can donate if this extension helps their problems!

It's public domain already!

Fine, let's see if I get banned https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-search...

Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#72

Post by googlebot6178 »

necovek wrote: post #2

Generally, I find the country domains behave consistently: I imagine google.co.uk might still give you English as the main language. But really, Google has been defaulting to a language based on GeoIP data for a long time now.

They got rid of country specific sites like google.co.uk as said they could work out what people wanted with one size fits all .com Now as an expat when trying to do Christmas shopping for family in UK from abroad using UK shopping results you no longer can. If you ask Gemini who came up with such an idea it will shut you down for questioning Google policies. They are taking the apple approach of telling the user what they need and force them to take or leave it. So I left using Google.

Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#73

Post by kmfrk »

YouTube does this too when I'm on a VPN through a different country, and it doesn't seem to have a lang: operator to steer it in the right direction.

I'd ironically like more results in certain languages - just not language of the VPN location.

Drives me nuts.

Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#74

Post by pentagrama »

tambourine_man wrote: post #37

Google is institutionally incapable of understanding that some people can speak multiple languages. Only reliable solution I found is to create one account for each language and restrict the number of available languages to just that one in: https://www.google.com/preferences?lang=1 YouTube is the worst offender these days. I get Portuguese videos auto-dubbed to English and vice-versa even though I can understand bot…

To avoid YouTube auto-dubbing I use https://youtube-no-translation.vercel.app/

Recommended!

Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#75

Post by thiht »

Almighty Google knows better, you don’t want English, you just don’t know it yourself!

No seriously, I’m sure 2026 is the year the finest engineers in the world finally learn about Accept-Language and the fact that physical location != spoken language.

Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#76

Post by FrankSansC »

I've got the exact same issue : everything set in English but Google still show me results in French. Even going into advanced search and forcing it to show only results in English doesn't work... And I'm not even talking about the crappy results. 2026 is going to be the year I'm leaving Google for good.

Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#77

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

drnick1 wrote: post #16
toomuchtodo wrote: post #13

Try https://kagi.com/

I would never pay for search. The obvious solution here to browse behind Tor or a VPN, or to physically move to an English speaking country if you want to live in a 100% English environment.

"I would never pay for search."

This will trigger the Kagi subscribers to respond defensively

Tor is free

Why doesnt Google have an .onion address like DDG

Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#78

Post by eevmanu » 

  cr=country
I have a "kind" of similar need and use *cr* query param based on *ISO 3166-1 alpha-2* [1] to force official language when i want to narrow the search on a specific country (as example when I want to search for english, I use *cr=countryUS*)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2

p.s.: YMMV, sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't, most of the time works but there is no determinism

Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#79

Post by coffeefirst »

jeanlucas wrote: post #57
coffeefirst wrote: post #43

I have the opposite problem with YouTube, where they insist on dubbing everything when in just want subtitles. The result is an Italian cooking demo where the chef exclaims “MULTA BENE!” and the AI voice deadpans “it is very good.” I’m sure it’s even more annoying when you’re bilingual and can’t turn it off.

>I’m sure it’s even more annoying when you’re bilingual and can’t turn it off. At least on this point now it is possible to turn it off.

Did they add a global setting somewhere? When I encountered it you had to change it on each video.

Re: Tell HN: Google ignores English searches and forces localized results

#80

Post by numpad0 »

Oh it's a lot worse than that. Google Search is localized at scales of about Starlink cell size. You get completely diffrent results by just using a device that are known to live 10 miles from where you'd be.

I know it because there lots of information that don't show on my devices but does on many others away from me. It's annoying to say the very least.

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