Schiesse! I just want sites in English, please!
September 20, 2008 6:39 PM Subscribe
I'm currently traveling in Germany (I live in the US) and would like to know how I can force my browser (firefox) to *not* display localized versions of websites like google or myspace. My main issue is with google. I have to keep going to google.com and selecting "Google.com in English" to be able to type things into the search bar in firefox without getting German websites. Is there some sort of about:config option, greasemonkey script or something I can use to make sure sites don't redirect to their localized version?
The CustomizeGoogle extension has a setting to force searches in a particular language.
posted by Flunkie at 6:55 PM on September 20, 2008
posted by Flunkie at 6:55 PM on September 20, 2008
And Google's preferences page also lets you specify the language, although I assume that if you'll have to do it every time that you wipe your cookies.
posted by Flunkie at 6:58 PM on September 20, 2008
posted by Flunkie at 6:58 PM on September 20, 2008
Try the 'country-free' version of Google at http://google.com/ncr
posted by vac2003 at 7:12 PM on September 20, 2008 [3 favorites]
posted by vac2003 at 7:12 PM on September 20, 2008 [3 favorites]
Try modifying the list of languages your browser supports (Preferences -> Content -> Languages -> Choose your preferred language). My browser shows [en-us] and [en]. I know lots of websites check these language preferences, so if you have [de] at the top, moving [en] to the top of your list might be sufficient to get you the English localization rather than the German. You'll probably have to close all your tabs and flush your cookies (Preferences -> Privacy -> Show Cookies -> Remove All Cookies) as many sites will save your language preference there as well.
posted by crysflame at 8:44 PM on September 20, 2008
posted by crysflame at 8:44 PM on September 20, 2008
2nding vac2003. You just have to go to ncr once and you are all set.
posted by swapspace at 10:16 PM on September 20, 2008
posted by swapspace at 10:16 PM on September 20, 2008
You just have to go to ncr once and you are all set.
This is not completely true. I have to go back to it on starting every session. But it is quicker than hunting for the "in English" link on the page.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:38 AM on September 21, 2008
This is not completely true. I have to go back to it on starting every session. But it is quicker than hunting for the "in English" link on the page.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:38 AM on September 21, 2008
If it is just the language issue then you could use google.co.uk as opposed to google.com.
posted by Gratishades at 2:31 AM on September 21, 2008
posted by Gratishades at 2:31 AM on September 21, 2008
I think http://google.com/webhp forces the US google page
posted by londongeezer at 5:49 AM on September 21, 2008
posted by londongeezer at 5:49 AM on September 21, 2008
At least, it does in the UK
posted by londongeezer at 5:50 AM on September 21, 2008
posted by londongeezer at 5:50 AM on September 21, 2008
Oh, and BTW - schiesse means "Shoot!"... I think you transposed the "i" and the "e"...
posted by benzo8 at 8:22 AM on September 21, 2008
posted by benzo8 at 8:22 AM on September 21, 2008
For Firefox on OSX you would do this, for example I am in a /20 of IP space that appears to google to be Farsi speaking, so I get the Farsi page, but I want Canadian google:
google.xml is the default search plugin, googlecanada.xml is the custom search plugin made by copying google.xml to a new file and changing all instances of google.com to google.ca:
<> have been replaced with [ and ] to paste the code.
/Applications/Firefox301.app/Contents/MacOS/searchplugins myusername$ more google.xml
[SearchPlugin xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/browser/search/"]
[ShortName]Google[/ShortName]
[Description]Google Search[/Description]
[InputEncoding]UTF-8[/InputEncoding]
[Image width="16" height="16"]data:image/x-icon;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAIAAACQkWg2AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAaRJREFUeNpiVIg5JRU
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9xaYQzofPPzfuvrnj0Jst%2B5%2F8%2Bc4sLPeDkYlRgJc93VPE18NIXkYUmJYQSQMZ%2FP3379uPH7%2F%2F%2FEETBzqJ0WqLGvFpe2LCC4AAAwAyjg7ENzDDWAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg%3D%3D[/Image]
[Url type="application/x-suggestions+json" method="GET" template="http://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?output=firefox&client=firefox&hl={moz:locale}&a
mp;q={searchTerms}"/]
[Url type="text/html" method="GET" template="http://www.google.com/search"]
[Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/]
[Param name="ie" value="utf-8"/]
[Param name="oe" value="utf-8"/]
[Param name="aq" value="t"/]
[!-- Dynamic parameters --]
[Param name="rls" value="{moz:distributionID}:{moz:locale}:{moz:official}"/]
[MozParam name="client" condition="defaultEngine" trueValue="firefox-a" falseValue="firefox"/]
[/Url]
[SearchForm]http://www.google.com/firefox[/SearchForm]
[/SearchPlugin]
/Applications/Firefox301.app/Contents/MacOS/searchplugins myusername$ more googlecanada.xml
[SearchPlugin xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/browser/search/"]
[ShortName]GoogleCanada[/ShortName]
[Description]Google Canada Search[/Description]
[InputEncoding]UTF-8[/InputEncoding]
[Image width="16" height="16"]data:image/x-icon;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAIAAACQkWg2AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAaRJREFUeNpiVIg5JRU
Rw0A0YAHio943kYV%2B%2Ff33%2BdvvX7%2F%2FMjEx8nKycrGzwKXOiPKzICvdeezLhCV3jp15%2Bfv%2FX0YGhv8MDDxMX2qKTIw0RK10eYD6QYqATvoPBkt3f5K0W9Ew4fjTFz%2F%2Bw8Dm3W8UPeZxqFa%2BevsFyD0tw
gfVsOfkRxHrtfV9u5BVQ8Crd98%2FffkGYQM1QJ20%2FfSPv79eNxQGYfpSVJADmcvEAHbr7oOX2dj%2FERNKIA2%2F%2F%2Fz%2FxfCDhYVoDUDw5P6vf9%2B5iY0HVmZGQWm%2BN3fff%2Fn2k4eLHS739x%2FDiRs%2Ff%2
F%2F5x8HO%2FOHzN3djfqgNjIwMgc6qzLx%2Fpy47j2zY%2Feff06tXhOUucgxeun33AUZGpHh4%2Bvo7t8EyIJqz%2FhpasD59%2B5dNrqdnznZIsEL9ICXCsWuBCwvTv%2FymS5PWPP32ExEALz%2F%2BB5r848cPCJcRaMP
9xaYQzofPPzfuvrnj0Jst%2B5%2F8%2Bc4sLPeDkYlRgJc93VPE18NIXkYUmJYQSQMZ%2FP3379uPH7%2F%2F%2FEETBzqJ0WqLGvFpe2LCC4AAAwAyjg7ENzDDWAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg%3D%3D[/Image]
[Url type="application/x-suggestions+json" method="GET"
template="http://suggestqueries.google.ca/complete/search?output=firefox&client=firefox&hl={moz:locale}&q={searchTerms}"/]
[Url type="text/html" method="GET" template="http://www.google.ca/search"]
[Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/]
[Param name="ie" value="utf-8"/]
[Param name="oe" value="utf-8"/]
[Param name="aq" value="t"/]
[!-- Dynamic parameters --]
[Param name="rls" value="{moz:distributionID}:{moz:locale}:{moz:official}"/]
[MozParam name="client" condition="defaultEngine" trueValue="firefox-a" falseValue="firefox"/]
[/Url]
[SearchForm]http://www.google.com/firefox[/SearchForm]
[/SearchPlugin]
the same .XML files exist somewhere in c:\documents and settings\yourusername\application data\firefox\ on a windows system.
posted by thewalrus at 12:23 PM on September 21, 2008
google.xml is the default search plugin, googlecanada.xml is the custom search plugin made by copying google.xml to a new file and changing all instances of google.com to google.ca:
<> have been replaced with [ and ] to paste the code.
/Applications/Firefox301.app/Contents/MacOS/searchplugins myusername$ more google.xml
[ShortName]Google[/ShortName]
[Description]Google Search[/Description]
[InputEncoding]UTF-8[/InputEncoding]
[Image width="16" height="16"]data:image/x-icon;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAIAAACQkWg2AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAaRJREFUeNpiVIg5JRU
Rw0A0YAHio943kYV%2B%2Ff33%2BdvvX7%2F%2FMjEx8nKycrGzwKXOiPKzICvdeezLhCV3jp15%2Bfv%2FX0YGhv8MDDxMX2qKTIw0RK10eYD6QYqATvoPBkt3f5K0W9Ew4fjTFz%2F%2Bw8Dm3W8UPeZxqFa%2BevsFyD0tw
gfVsOfkRxHrtfV9u5BVQ8Crd98%2FffkGYQM1QJ20%2FfSPv79eNxQGYfpSVJADmcvEAHbr7oOX2dj%2FERNKIA2%2F%2F%2Fz%2FxfCDhYVoDUDw5P6vf9%2B5iY0HVmZGQWm%2BN3fff%2Fn2k4eLHS739x%2FDiRs%2Ff%2
F%2F5x8HO%2FOHzN3djfqgNjIwMgc6qzLx%2Fpy47j2zY%2Feff06tXhOUucgxeun33AUZGpHh4%2Bvo7t8EyIJqz%2FhpasD59%2B5dNrqdnznZIsEL9ICXCsWuBCwvTv%2FymS5PWPP32ExEALz%2F%2BB5r848cPCJcRaMP
9xaYQzofPPzfuvrnj0Jst%2B5%2F8%2Bc4sLPeDkYlRgJc93VPE18NIXkYUmJYQSQMZ%2FP3379uPH7%2F%2F%2FEETBzqJ0WqLGvFpe2LCC4AAAwAyjg7ENzDDWAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg%3D%3D[/Image]
[Url type="application/x-suggestions+json" method="GET" template="http://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?output=firefox&client=firefox&hl={moz:locale}&a
mp;q={searchTerms}"/]
[Url type="text/html" method="GET" template="http://www.google.com/search"]
[Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/]
[Param name="ie" value="utf-8"/]
[Param name="oe" value="utf-8"/]
[Param name="aq" value="t"/]
[!-- Dynamic parameters --]
[Param name="rls" value="{moz:distributionID}:{moz:locale}:{moz:official}"/]
[MozParam name="client" condition="defaultEngine" trueValue="firefox-a" falseValue="firefox"/]
[/Url]
[SearchForm]http://www.google.com/firefox[/SearchForm]
[/SearchPlugin]
/Applications/Firefox301.app/Contents/MacOS/searchplugins myusername$ more googlecanada.xml
[SearchPlugin xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/browser/search/"]
[ShortName]GoogleCanada[/ShortName]
[Description]Google Canada Search[/Description]
[InputEncoding]UTF-8[/InputEncoding]
[Image width="16" height="16"]data:image/x-icon;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAIAAACQkWg2AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAaRJREFUeNpiVIg5JRU
Rw0A0YAHio943kYV%2B%2Ff33%2BdvvX7%2F%2FMjEx8nKycrGzwKXOiPKzICvdeezLhCV3jp15%2Bfv%2FX0YGhv8MDDxMX2qKTIw0RK10eYD6QYqATvoPBkt3f5K0W9Ew4fjTFz%2F%2Bw8Dm3W8UPeZxqFa%2BevsFyD0tw
gfVsOfkRxHrtfV9u5BVQ8Crd98%2FffkGYQM1QJ20%2FfSPv79eNxQGYfpSVJADmcvEAHbr7oOX2dj%2FERNKIA2%2F%2F%2Fz%2FxfCDhYVoDUDw5P6vf9%2B5iY0HVmZGQWm%2BN3fff%2Fn2k4eLHS739x%2FDiRs%2Ff%2
F%2F5x8HO%2FOHzN3djfqgNjIwMgc6qzLx%2Fpy47j2zY%2Feff06tXhOUucgxeun33AUZGpHh4%2Bvo7t8EyIJqz%2FhpasD59%2B5dNrqdnznZIsEL9ICXCsWuBCwvTv%2FymS5PWPP32ExEALz%2F%2BB5r848cPCJcRaMP
9xaYQzofPPzfuvrnj0Jst%2B5%2F8%2Bc4sLPeDkYlRgJc93VPE18NIXkYUmJYQSQMZ%2FP3379uPH7%2F%2F%2FEETBzqJ0WqLGvFpe2LCC4AAAwAyjg7ENzDDWAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg%3D%3D[/Image]
[Url type="application/x-suggestions+json" method="GET"
template="http://suggestqueries.google.ca/complete/search?output=firefox&client=firefox&hl={moz:locale}&q={searchTerms}"/]
[Url type="text/html" method="GET" template="http://www.google.ca/search"]
[Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/]
[Param name="ie" value="utf-8"/]
[Param name="oe" value="utf-8"/]
[Param name="aq" value="t"/]
[!-- Dynamic parameters --]
[Param name="rls" value="{moz:distributionID}:{moz:locale}:{moz:official}"/]
[MozParam name="client" condition="defaultEngine" trueValue="firefox-a" falseValue="firefox"/]
[/Url]
[SearchForm]http://www.google.com/firefox[/SearchForm]
[/SearchPlugin]
the same .XML files exist somewhere in c:\documents and settings\yourusername\application data\firefox\ on a windows system.
posted by thewalrus at 12:23 PM on September 21, 2008
You can also put the following address in your homepage - bypasses DNS server and gives you Google English. http://66.102.9.104/
posted by ptm at 5:16 AM on September 24, 2008
posted by ptm at 5:16 AM on September 24, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by beagle at 6:50 PM on September 20, 2008