this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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This always annoys me. I land on a site that's in a language I don't understand (say, Dutch), and I want to switch to something else. I open the language selector and... it's all in Dutch too. So instead of Germany/Deutchland, Romania/România, Great Britain, etc, I get Duitsland and Roemenië and Groot-Brittannië...

How does that make any sense? If I don't speak the language, how am I supposed to know what Roemenië even is? In some situations, it could be easier to figure it out, but in some, not so much. "German" in Polish is "Niemiecki"... :|

Wouldn't it be way more user-friendly to show the names in their native language, like Deutsch, Română, English, Polski, etc?

Is there a reason this is still a thing, or is it just bad UX that nobody bothers to fix?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah, that's weird. They should be written in Klingonese.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This should be a universal symbol. Like a flag in the corner you can pretty safely assume might be for language. And then yeah each language listed in that language.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Which flag do we use for English?

I won't allow the stars and stripes

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Why would they use the American flag for English? We speak American. /s kinda?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

Usually services in English will have English (US) and English (UK). Sorry to all the other English-speaking countries out there, though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

🇮🇳 obviously.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago

Every time I make a tool like this, I try to wind up any Americans in the company by putting the US flag as English (simplified) and the Union Jack as English

It's a fun back and forth we have switching it between the two (inevitably someone makes a PR to put it back, and we go on)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Zimbabwe obviously 🇿🇲 ah fuck

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I have seen at least one site where they used the English flag. Luckily I have watched the European Cup a few times and could recognize it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Wow, the actual English flag, not the Union Jack?

I imagine that would trip up quite a few people even though there is a cheeky aspect of technical correctness to it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Yes, the actual English flag, not the British flag.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Have different locales for uk and us

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

And I absolutely would not be able to resist labeling these as:

  • English, U
  • English, No U
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