Claude Montpetit -- Montpetit.net -- en

The last point in my previous post is actually quite important. When I go to bilingual sites (update: where english is the primary language), I sometimes worry that if I select the French version, it will be incomplete, that newer stuff will not be present as it could be only presented in the English version. But if the French version was consistently indicating that untranslated items are available in another language, I would feel comfortable selecting French knowing I will not miss anything.

This would have to be consistent, and should even be part of a site's mission statement. Something like: This site is offered in French and English. We try our best to translate all contents of this site. When a translation is not yet available in the currently selected language, a link to the untranslated document will still be offered so that you do not miss anything from whatever language you select. A statement better worded, and, of course, available in every language supported by the site.

My browser's preferred language is fr_CA. Now, when I go to a site that cares about this, I usually feel good. Google makes me feel good. When I go to google.com, I am first redirected to www.google.ca (I am an "fr_CA" guy) and get an English GUI. But the server having noticed my language preference (fr), it offers me to view the site in French. Why does google not show up in French right away? I am not sure, but I suspect it has to do, for example, with the fact that they do not have the "News" tab available in French. Google being an American company, they develop features in English first, and provide translations later on. So if they were to always show the user's preferred language by default, non-english users would miss the new features of the site.

One solution for them would be to show the translated version and whatever part is not translated yet, they could show it in English. They do not do this and I am quiet happy they do not. The purpose of this post is to complain about sites that want to be good at supporting localized versions of their site. I dislike those that do it only partially without offering any visible way to force "English only" when the French consists in seldom words here in there, in the middle of English text.

So here is what I personally think should be considered when providing multilingual support on a web site:

• Do not mix different languages on the same page.
• Always provide an easy way for switching to another language from any other supported language, especially for switching to the primary site language (this is required in particular on community sites where members contribute in a single language and the GUI is available in a different language. I noticed this for example on a Wiki site. To force another language, I need to create a profile.)
• Select the user's preferred language by default only if the site is complete in this language. If the site is not complete, select the site's primary language and offer a link to the user's language version (the google way.)
• Be sure that translations that you provide are acceptable. Automated translations are insulting to the readers.
• If possible, when something is not yet translated in the currently selected language, provide indications that it is available in a different language.

Human endeavor is caught in an eternal tension between the effectiveness of small groups acting independently and the need to mesh with the wider community

Extract from an extract from
an article about Semantic Web (may 2001.)