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Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

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Re: Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

#81

Post by Nextgrid »

LamboJ wrote: post #36

I think part of the reason might be that the browser settings aren't as reliable as location data. A lot of people even outside the US, have their browser/OS set to en-US from the default configuration. Even if they might be located in France or India. If Google had determined that was the case more than 50% of the time, then I can see why they favour using location for language instead of browser settings.

So if that's the case then give them the en-US version? They'll either accept it because that's what they've explicitly requested, or change their system settings to match what they actually want.

Re: Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

#82

Post by Forricide »

makeitdouble wrote: post #46
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #40

I built an iOS app once for a Dutch audience. We used the device's language as the app's language, because that makes sense, right? It's the same with the preferred language in a browser, right? Wrong; we got complaints from users that their app was in English instead of Dutch. Even though their device was set to English or another unsupported language. We begrudgingly added an app specific language preference. I rep…

First and foremost, thanks for having a very sane approach to this ! This is what other apps should tend to. > We used the device's language as the app's language, because that makes sense, right? One of the mistake devs do all the time is assuming users use _one_ language. It’s not the case for a very large portion of people around the globe.

> It’s not the case for a very large portion of people around the globe.

Yep, even people who speak one language might put their phone or browser into another language for learning (immersion) purposes but need your important (e.g. banking) application to be in their native language regardless.

Re: Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

#83

Post by darkerside »

justinmayer wrote: post #70

I met one-on-one with Google’s senior leadership in 2000 to talk about their internationalization efforts. This was very early in their trajectory, so I even sat down with Larry Page and chatted with him for half an hour. A year or two later I’m in Tokyo and talk to a new Google product manager based there. I tell her it is insane that Google serves me Japanese pages on my English-configured PowerBook just because I…

You know exactly how to get to Google in English though, don't you? A new person picking up a misconfigured laptop seems much more likely to get lost than a temporary visitor to another country.

Re: Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

#84

Post by silvestrov »

justinmayer wrote: post #70

I met one-on-one with Google’s senior leadership in 2000 to talk about their internationalization efforts. This was very early in their trajectory, so I even sat down with Larry Page and chatted with him for half an hour. A year or two later I’m in Tokyo and talk to a new Google product manager based there. I tell her it is insane that Google serves me Japanese pages on my English-configured PowerBook just because I…

Better explanation: monolingual people thinks that computers will always be configured to the local language and any other setup is a "misconfiguration".

In real life a large number of corporations (and developers) have their computers configured with English as this is the main language of the coorporation and makes IT-support much easier. (we don't even need to talk about how badly botched many language translations are).

These users will still want Google to return results in their native language.

There is a much much larger number of users like this than travellers from USA.

One thing that bothers me a lot with US websites is that they always assume English language means 12-hour clock.

Apple has learned the above over time: it is much easier today to get a Mac running with English and 24-hour clocks.

Re: Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

#85

Post by miskin »

justinmayer wrote: post #70

I met one-on-one with Google’s senior leadership in 2000 to talk about their internationalization efforts. This was very early in their trajectory, so I even sat down with Larry Page and chatted with him for half an hour. A year or two later I’m in Tokyo and talk to a new Google product manager based there. I tell her it is insane that Google serves me Japanese pages on my English-configured PowerBook just because I…

This IP based personalisation is such a pain especially if you work remotely and need to use VPN to connect to company network that happens to be based in different country. Worst thing is that Google knows very well who am I (due to me being logged in to GMail), knows what language I use, but still serves me completely wrong results only because my IP is suddenly from different country.

Re: Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

#86

Post by quitit »

Their various services are inconsistent in how they detect language.

Some elements may appear in the language associated with the user's location, while others are based on the browser setting. It's highly inconsistent, as someone who travels frequently it's also pretty annoying.

Facebook properties have this problem as well.

Re: Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

#87

Post by virtualritz »

Traveling thorough Argentina in 2019 my phone showed all prices in Argentinian Pesos.

Particularly annoying on Google Maps when looking for hotels. Crazy inflation made remembering an exchange rate to € or US$ useless.

But what's more, after I returned to Europe this stayed for a few months. I.e. Google Maps still showed me hotel prices in Argentinian Pesos – in Europe!

Re: Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

#88

Post by jokteur »

I live in Switzerland and every website seems to think I speak German (I do, but this is not the point). Everything is configured in French on my computer, so why do you insist serving me content in German. Yes , I do understand that 66% of the country speaks Swiss German, but still, why can't the website respect my language preferences.

The worst offender are the swiss websites (like digitec). You would think they at least understand the regional differences of Switzerland and they even have a website for each region, but still default on showing me the German version.

Re: Why does Google use location for language rather than browser settings?

#89

Post by Fiahil »

andromeduck wrote: post #38
_Anima_ wrote: post #18

I live in the French speaking part of Belgium and have configured all my devices in English for the past 15+ years. Apparently Google consider that if you are geo IP located in Belgium with your devices in English, you _have to be_ a Dutch speaker. While I would agree that French speaking Belgians are in majority using French UIs, there are exceptions. Please respect my browser settings! The solution? I have to put F…

How did you even figure that one out?

I live in France, speak French, but work with English as my primary language.

So, I had to make the same settings change, otherwise google would keep putting French searches before English ones (despite the fact that I searched with English keywords).

I don't remember how I found this, but it might something along the lines of "I'm really annoyed today, let's fix this NOW". When you speak 2 languages or more, and they don't match with your location, Google, Microsoft, and most other big tech companies go completely nuts. So, you get used to fiddling with languages settings.

I have no idea how we got there, but my guess is that most Google engineers are either : completely ignorant of internationalization issues, don't care, or don't speak more than one language.

PS: Speech recognition, autocorrect, and mobile keyboards : Same problem.

PS2: Apple get it right most of the time.

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