Sorry if this question has been asked or if it is stupid but I have no idea where to go to figure this out. Since I've arrived in Switzerland, a lot of favorite pages (google, blogger) come up in either French or German, I assume because of my IP address. It is particularly annoying in German since I don't know any (I at least am trying to learn French since I am in Geneva). Particularly my blogger page has all the instructions in German and I can't figure out how to edit a post!

Anyway, any idea how to keep my pages coming up in English, even if I'm in CH? Or can someone remind me how to translate a page?

Thank you!

Open Google, on the right of the Google search box you'll see a link called preferences (einstellungen) - click it.

Set your interface language to English in the drop down box.

In the list of languages listed, click the little check boxes to select the languages you want (English is there)

Click 'Einstellungen Speichern' or 'Save Settings'

Or, you can just make this your default home...

http://www.google.com/intl/en/

Which I got by going through -> Preferences -> Preferences Help (top right) -> Language Options -> English

I have the same problem. I think Google is trying to be clever. It also indicates tht Google is filtering our results for us, and not necessarily in the way that we might like.

I use Firefox, so some of what I say might not apply to you if you use M$ Internet Exploiter.

I have Firefox's Google search bar installed. If I type a search string into the search bar - say "fubar" - I am taken to a Google page, and the URI begins with ...

http://www.google.ch/search?q=fubar ...

(See the first attached picture).


So at this point, I would just edit the URI by hand to look like this

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fubar ...

and press the return key. This forces the search to run against a UK version of Google.

(See the second attached picture).


Alternatively, when I have something like the first attached picture, I also see my search term at the top of the Google web page, next to the Google logo.

If I now click the "Suche" button, I get to something like the third attachment. Now the URI reads

http://www.google.ch/search?hl=de ...

So if I replace de with en and press return, I get something like attachment number 4.

Ignore what I wrote. I forgot I don't let Google mess with cookies on my PC. Gooner's method is probably better for you.

Use Yahoo! it's better....

Yes you IP address and also the language of your operating system (probably Windows) and that of your browser will influence the way many sites handlle what you download from them. Thus with a German language system you are fighting an uphill battle to get English where there is a choice...

Have you tried using the search box at the top right hand side in Firefox instead? A quick test demonstrates that it puts "en-US" in the search string for you (dunno whether it gets this from Firefox preferences or cookies though)

I have a Mac, so no MSIE here, but:

with Opera or Safari, using the search box at the top RHS goes to google.com every time.

As to different googles giving different results, try the following:

Bring up google.ch
search for camembert

bring up google.fr
search for camembert

repeat with google.de

very different results indeed

To set your browser to be English:

Firefox:
tools, options, advanced, general tab
(Lost)

Opera:
tools, preferences, general tab
(Lost)

IE:
tools, internet options, general, languages
(Lost)

Thank you all for your responses. I really just needed to know the german word for preferences for the google site (thanks gooner!) and at the bottom of the blogger site there was a tab "sprache" which I guessed meant language and I was right and able to change the language. I will try a couple of your more global solutions to the problem next!

I appreciate all of your willingness to help!

just use www.google.co.uk and avoid the problem. And then you can block google cookies...

I haven't discovered how to modify the firefox google bar to point to google.co.uk. Have you?

Of course I have - I even mentioned it in my original, pre-1st coffee post . And if you look at any of the screenshots I posted you'd recognise the Aqua layout:

I'm pretty sure it's cookies. And I think the buggers time out too, so that Google can keep a closer eye on you.

I'm a Mac user also. Even if it were available, I wouldn't use M$IE. Nasty, primitive piece of work.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the "firefox google bar" here.

But for the search box at the top RHS of FireFox, go here and put google.co.uk into the search box. Hit "search", and it will come up with a list of FireFox plugins.

Add the plugin, then it will appear in the drop down menu at the top RHS. The last item on that menu is "Manage search engines". I suggest you play around with that.

I meant what you call

Followed your suggestions and it worked a treat. It would be a lot nicer if the "Manage Search Engines" allowed you to adjust the called URI directly.

Thanks.

Also a pre-coffee post from me


I was under the impression that they have an expiry date of 2038 at the moment.

Chuckle, but I don't think this forum is the place for OS wars.

Bah, need to go shopping now. I'll send you a PM later.