I live in Belgium. As some of you will know we are a country with three languages (not a bilingual country, mind you, one’s language will depend mainly on the region that they live in, Dutch in the north, French in the south and some German in the east; our capital Brussels is a special case: officially it's bilingual Dutch-French, but the numbers of speakers show a different story: French, English, Arabic (different dialects) and only then Dutch).
A lot of websites will mistakenly try to serve me in French (which is the second most spoken language). About 60% of the Belgian population has Dutch (Flemish) as their mother tongue. Although I can read French it takes a lot more effort than Dutch or English. Most of the younger generation is barely able to read or understand French and will prefer English over French all the time. Most teenagers will immediately exit a site in French.
My browser has my language preferences down to Dutch first, then English. My operating system is in English, so why serve me in French? Because I live in a country which has another region where French is the main language. If you are going to do it like this, then please don’t even bother with internationalisation and serve me in English.
For me it is not even a political thing like it would be for many of my countrymen. Imagine how they will react if you try to serve them in the wrong language.They would prefer being served in Ancient Greek over French...
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Thank you so very much for this!
I live in Belgium. As some of you will know we are a country with three languages (not a bilingual country, mind you, one’s language will depend mainly on the region that they live in, Dutch in the north, French in the south and some German in the east; our capital Brussels is a special case: officially it's bilingual Dutch-French, but the numbers of speakers show a different story: French, English, Arabic (different dialects) and only then Dutch).
A lot of websites will mistakenly try to serve me in French (which is the second most spoken language). About 60% of the Belgian population has Dutch (Flemish) as their mother tongue. Although I can read French it takes a lot more effort than Dutch or English. Most of the younger generation is barely able to read or understand French and will prefer English over French all the time. Most teenagers will immediately exit a site in French.
My browser has my language preferences down to Dutch first, then English. My operating system is in English, so why serve me in French? Because I live in a country which has another region where French is the main language. If you are going to do it like this, then please don’t even bother with internationalisation and serve me in English.
For me it is not even a political thing like it would be for many of my countrymen. Imagine how they will react if you try to serve them in the wrong language.They would prefer being served in Ancient Greek over French...