I hate internationalization
Monday, 15. October 2007, 21:54:13
I hate *DUMB* internationalization, I really, seriously, fantastically hate it.
I hate google for it just as well as I hate thepiratebay for it. And they're some of the sites for humans - there are others that are unreasonably stupid.
I fail to understand who was the first person that came up with the brilliant idea to offer internationalized versions of their web systems based on the IP/host of the user. I'm sure it's convenient to easily catch the majority of the population of country X and automatically offer it version in language X, when they browse your site. But I'm not from country X, even though I've happened to live in X, Y and Z for the past few years and none of them were a place where I was fluent in the language. Sure - it's my own fault for not speaking it, but that doesn't exactly justify you throwing at me a page full of incomprehensible gibberish. No offence X, Y and Z - you're alright. The guys that made your page just weren't on a plane often enough.
And you know what - I don't even want the web in my native language. When I started using it there wasn't much in my native language. And I'm not even that old, give me a break. I want the web in English, I'm perfectly happy with that and I'll be juuuust fine, even if you don't throw me some language I've spoken for 4-5 years more than English. I have language preferences in my web-browser, that send those nice and convenient HTTP headers, but I've yet to see someone using them as they should. If I wanted the website in Zulu, I'd tell you so myself and I'd hope you can give me that.
Please, people, think when you design things. If you'll be throwing at me random pages, based on where in the world I might be at the current moment - at least have the decency to offer me an easy way to click and change language. Make it obvious. Put a picture on it, do something, anything. At least put the link for changing the language in something more visible and comprehensible than whatever you spell "language" in your tongue.
I hate google for it just as well as I hate thepiratebay for it. And they're some of the sites for humans - there are others that are unreasonably stupid.
I fail to understand who was the first person that came up with the brilliant idea to offer internationalized versions of their web systems based on the IP/host of the user. I'm sure it's convenient to easily catch the majority of the population of country X and automatically offer it version in language X, when they browse your site. But I'm not from country X, even though I've happened to live in X, Y and Z for the past few years and none of them were a place where I was fluent in the language. Sure - it's my own fault for not speaking it, but that doesn't exactly justify you throwing at me a page full of incomprehensible gibberish. No offence X, Y and Z - you're alright. The guys that made your page just weren't on a plane often enough.
And you know what - I don't even want the web in my native language. When I started using it there wasn't much in my native language. And I'm not even that old, give me a break. I want the web in English, I'm perfectly happy with that and I'll be juuuust fine, even if you don't throw me some language I've spoken for 4-5 years more than English. I have language preferences in my web-browser, that send those nice and convenient HTTP headers, but I've yet to see someone using them as they should. If I wanted the website in Zulu, I'd tell you so myself and I'd hope you can give me that.
Please, people, think when you design things. If you'll be throwing at me random pages, based on where in the world I might be at the current moment - at least have the decency to offer me an easy way to click and change language. Make it obvious. Put a picture on it, do something, anything. At least put the link for changing the language in something more visible and comprehensible than whatever you spell "language" in your tongue.
