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I get this page in Dutch. I didn't ask for it and I can't change it. In fact, I'm logged in with an account which only has one language preference set (English)

I get this page in Dutch. I didn't ask for it and I can't change it. In fact, I'm logged in with an account which only has one language preference set (English), which Google happily ignores whenever it feels like. And it would be merely annoying if it only affected the interface language, but it changes features, search results and in this case the entire content. Which makes it pretty much impossible to participate in this discussion in HN. This is one of the reasons why by now I dislike Google as much as I disliked Microsoft back in 90's. Some people may find it hard to identify with, but imagine communicating with someone you know speaks perfect English, who you have politely requested to communicate in English, and who actually speaks English to everyone else in the room except you. There are less offensive ways to say "fuck you".

twinge 13y ago
Try adding ?hl=en to the URL. A similar situation happened to my wife after visiting Germany, we had to edit her cookies and clear the "hl" parameter (IIRC) because various random Google sites were entirely in German.
- mavhc 13y ago
  If only browsers sent some kind of message to the server to tell it what languages you'd prefer
  - cbhl 13y ago
    They do, and have since at least the mid 90s. But most users don't know how to set this preference, so Google assumes GeoIP is the One Source Of Truth(TM) for language (apart from hl= and being signed in).
    - timClicks 13y ago
      I don't think you had your sarcasm filter turned on there.
- bsullivan01 13y ago
  "Try adding ?hl=en to the URL" How about suing a new fucking search engine, DDG or Bing?!!! Do this for that, that for that and we'll need a college degree on Google searching. I travel so my searches used to automatically transfer to google.cctld. No thanks!
  - randomhunt 13y ago
    Yeah but as Google do it so does Bing (after all why not copy Google's arrogance as well) Just in case anyone is interested for Bing you have to use "?mkt=en-GB" (for example)
psbp 13y ago
This is a huge overreaction.
- bowlofpetunias 13y ago
  Did I mention changing features (omitting some, changing the navigation to others) and search results (Stack Overflow tends not to show up in local searches in language xyz) ? And all this with no language/region switch in sight? Except the one inside the account settings, which Google then randomly ignores? What would you consider to be the appropriate reaction to such a user experience? Or just imagine clicking on the link at the top of this threat and ending up on a page called "Onze geschiedenis tot in detail", which contains a truly awful, low quality and barely readable Dutch "translation" with no obvious way of accessing the content people are actually discussing here. Would this put you in a good mood?
  - mercuryrising 13y ago
    Delete your google cookies then resign in.
  - reginaldo 13y ago
    Most Google services accept and honor a "hl" URL parameter. So it would be http://www.google.com/about/company/history/?hl=en http://www.google.com/about/company/history/?hl=en for English, and hl=nl for Dutch (not that you want it). No cookie cleaning is needed :)
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- taopao 13y ago
  And it's comment #1!
- randomhunt 13y ago
  Not really, I feel exactly the same and as it's the top comment I guess a lot of other people do as well. I know it certainly comes up regularly both in the office (people traveling get very annoyed when Google decides they should fluently read the language of the country they're working in for that week) and among friends as a source of constant frustration. Google isn't alone in doing it either, Bing has slavishly copied this absolute idiotic stupidity although they aren't anywhere near as insulting about it as Google _yet_ (e.g. where Google, Wordpress, Youtube etc. show it in the language it geolocates you to rather than either your browser's language or your profile's language)

twinge 13y ago

Try adding ?hl=en to the URL. A similar situation happened to my wife after visiting Germany, we had to edit her cookies and clear the "hl" parameter (IIRC) because various random Google sites were entirely in German.

mavhc 13y ago
If only browsers sent some kind of message to the server to tell it what languages you'd prefer
- cbhl 13y ago
  They do, and have since at least the mid 90s. But most users don't know how to set this preference, so Google assumes GeoIP is the One Source Of Truth(TM) for language (apart from hl= and being signed in).
  - timClicks 13y ago
    I don't think you had your sarcasm filter turned on there.
bsullivan01 13y ago
"Try adding ?hl=en to the URL" How about suing a new fucking search engine, DDG or Bing?!!! Do this for that, that for that and we'll need a college degree on Google searching. I travel so my searches used to automatically transfer to google.cctld. No thanks!
- randomhunt 13y ago
  Yeah but as Google do it so does Bing (after all why not copy Google's arrogance as well) Just in case anyone is interested for Bing you have to use "?mkt=en-GB" (for example)

psbp 13y ago

This is a huge overreaction.

bowlofpetunias 13y ago
Did I mention changing features (omitting some, changing the navigation to others) and search results (Stack Overflow tends not to show up in local searches in language xyz) ? And all this with no language/region switch in sight? Except the one inside the account settings, which Google then randomly ignores? What would you consider to be the appropriate reaction to such a user experience? Or just imagine clicking on the link at the top of this threat and ending up on a page called "Onze geschiedenis tot in detail", which contains a truly awful, low quality and barely readable Dutch "translation" with no obvious way of accessing the content people are actually discussing here. Would this put you in a good mood?
- mercuryrising 13y ago
  Delete your google cookies then resign in.
- reginaldo 13y ago
  Most Google services accept and honor a "hl" URL parameter. So it would be http://www.google.com/about/company/history/?hl=en http://www.google.com/about/company/history/?hl=en for English, and hl=nl for Dutch (not that you want it). No cookie cleaning is needed :)
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
taopao 13y ago
And it's comment #1!
randomhunt 13y ago
Not really, I feel exactly the same and as it's the top comment I guess a lot of other people do as well. I know it certainly comes up regularly both in the office (people traveling get very annoyed when Google decides they should fluently read the language of the country they're working in for that week) and among friends as a source of constant frustration. Google isn't alone in doing it either, Bing has slavishly copied this absolute idiotic stupidity although they aren't anywhere near as insulting about it as Google _yet_ (e.g. where Google, Wordpress, Youtube etc. show it in the language it geolocates you to rather than either your browser's language or your profile's language)