Most browsers send language preferences to the server
according to an ordered list of languages in the browser
configuration. Thus the preferences do not depend on the pages
but on the general settings of the browser.
Typically the default setting in a browser
is that the list consists of one language only,
the "own" language of the browser, i.e. the language used in its
user interface (menus, buttons, error messages, etc).
This naturally implies that if you install, say,
a German version of a browser and do not change the language
preferences, you have,
as regards to language negotiation,
thereby said that you only know
German. This usually isn't fatal, but your browsing will not
be as comfortable as it might be, if you actually know other
languages too.
There's a little
service for showing the language settings as sent by your
browser. It is not always possible to see these settings
in the browser itself exactly in the format that they are
as sent by it.
For example, in the English version of
Internet Explorer 4
the language preferences can be changed by selecting
"View" from the main menu,
then "Internet Options..." and the
"General" sheet, and, in a new window which pops up, item
"Languages...", which opens the
"Language Preferences" window. You can add languages using the
"Add..." button and selecting a language from a
menu that pops up.
The buttons "Move Up" and
"Move Down"
can be used to sort the languages so that those which you know best
appear first (upmost).
IE lets you pick up languages using their names but gives
their codes (like en for English) in brackets.
If you need to work with two-letter language codes, see
ISO 639 Languages and Dialects, and More.
For several other browsers you can find advice
(in different languages by language negotiation!) in
the Debian project
instructions for setting language preferences.
The instructions warn that if you wish to include a particular
variant of a language, such as British English
(en-GB),
you should also have that language in general
as an entry
(English, en) in the list (after the more specific entry).
Problems may arise if the same computer and browser is used,
at different times, e.g. in a classroom
by different people with different language preferences.
There does not seem to be any simple solution to that at present.
Clever users can be told that in a situation like that, if
they change a browser's language preferences for themselves,
it is polite to reset them when they finish. The preferences should
be reset so that they are reasonable for most users. In Finland for
example, this probably means
the language list Finnish, English, Swedish.
Next section:
Notes.
2002-12-22 Jukka K. Korpela