this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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i know of, for example, russian-americans who have their google in russian

my lemmy is in spanish and my search engine, portuguese

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[–] KokusnussRitter@discuss.tchncs.de 35 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I keep my OSs set in English, although it's not my native language. Simply, because most articles and forum posts for troubleshooting are in english and it makes translating sub-menu titles obsolete

[–] win95@lemmy.zip 6 points 4 days ago

This is exactly what I wanted to comment.

[–] Crotaro@beehaw.org 1 points 4 days ago

This is my reasoning, too. I keep my keyboard QWERTZ + German Umlaute, but almost everything else is set to English. Pretty much the only exception are videogames and movies that have a superior German version to them (like Kingdom Come Deliverance)

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 40 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

All English. It's just more practical. Every software is first and foremost written in English, for English UIs, for English-speaking users, and then internationalized. I'll just stick to the primary design for simplicity's sake and to reduce potential issues.

Also, English tends to be more terse and less verbose than almost all other languages when abbreviated.

[–] tab@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 days ago

same - why try to decipher someone else's often flawed attempts at translation, when the original text is available?

[–] pipes@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 days ago

Exactly the same reasons for me. And I even got used to the US and UK keyboard layouts, especially selecting the "dead keys" layout on the OS so I can easily type the specific letters/accents needed for many European languages (the few ones I speak anyway :) ).

Another advantage of the US layout is that it's the default on any live / installation media / remote server ecc.

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 days ago

More verbose happens to every translation. Because the original text could choose to communicate things in a way that works with that language but every translation has to include all the information in the original version.

[–] HatchetHaro@pawb.social 8 points 4 days ago

everything in english

i'm better at english than my native language lul

[–] hamid@vegantheoryclub.org 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Persian is my mother tongue but the most disappointing day in my life is when I realized I dreamed in English because it has been my primary language most of my life. I honestly don't even know if I can set lemmy to Persian, I've never checked.

edit: well, how about that you can.

[–] inamorta345@lemmy.ml 11 points 5 days ago

I usually keep all my settings in English. It makes it easier when you're looking for help online when you need something

[–] oktoberpaard@feddit.nl 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I used to have everything set to English (my second language), but nowadays I use Spanish when available (third language). I use my native language only for a handful of local apps and websites if Spanish is unavailable.

[–] double_quack@lemm.ee 6 points 4 days ago

english, it is better handled by computers at all levels

Spanish is my first language, but English has pretty much taken over so PC is all in English, phone is all in English.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Regardless what i do, the results are shit. If i set language to English, it tries to present me with English tranlations of German YouTubers, if i set it to German, it tries to translate English YouTubers to German. Both kinds of tranlations suck.

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That might be more of a VPN issue, no?

[–] Shialac@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

Nah, its an issue of Youtube pushing/forcing their bs "AI-"Features""

[–] WanakaTree@lemm.ee 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm an American who is decent at German, living back in the US again. I set whatever I can to German to maintain my exposure to it, sometimes to my own confusion and detriment

[–] monovergent@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago

Same here. Gives me a new appreciation for in-app language settings, in case an app is too complicated or weirdly translated.

[–] AuroraGlamour@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Native Spanish and English speaker, Lemmy settings are in Spanish. I’m used to my settings being in Spanish because I grew up in South America with electronics naturally being set to Spanish.

Also, when I’d go to Google something for my friends, it was more efficient to have them read it, rather than just translating.

[–] AuroraGlamour@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

For example:

I remember someone asking me about religion in Poland (they were Polish and didn’t know and also didn’t have their phone with them) so they asked me to look it up. It was more efficient, like I said, to just have them read this.

[–] RicoSuave@feddit.cl 3 points 4 days ago

i thank you for this as a hispanic dude with a polish mom

[–] mkuznetsoff@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm born and live in Russia, but I use english everywhere, except for specific topics. And also I can't read books on english yet

i know bilingual people who DON’T read english

[–] AccountMaker@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 days ago

I'm so used to seeing English everywhere that I actually have trouble navigating things like settings in my native Serbian.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I’ve got my stuff in Japanese. Just trying my best to keep it sharp and not let English kick it out of my brain (which it is aggressively trying to do.)

[–] Suppoze@beehaw.org 6 points 4 days ago

I am Hungarian, but everything I use is in English. As a software developer it's basically the language of my work and I started consuming media in English at a young age.

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 3 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I just want to comment on how good Gboard is with multiple languages that share a keyboard (or nearly do). It's gonna be the hardest thing to give up in my slow de googling process.

I used to have English/Spanish and now English/Danish. It will autocorrect mostly to whichever mode you're in first, but will do some and not fight you on the secondary. Very good for like a conversation in English but an address in another language.

I don't think it adds anything to my Japanese keyboard layout, just have to swap each way

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago

And you can set the layout while still having the localized letters (e.g. polish keyboard + special characters with qwertz layout)

[–] zakobjoa@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Samesies. Will also be one of the harder things to cut out. I have GER/EN/UA and it works very well, apart from some capitalisation errors.

Native Spanish

Everything that has a relatively decent Spanish translation will use it, else go to English (and hope that in case of English also being a translation of the original, it's slightly more bearable)

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

I'm not bilingual yet but I have my computer and phone set in Esperanto.

[–] klemptor@startrek.website 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm a native English speaker but my phone and fitbit are in French. I minored in French in college and I'm trying to shake off the rust.

[–] skankhunt42@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

My phone and YouTube are in French, everything else is in English. No idea why YouTube (and only YouTube, not google, gmail, etc) is French, one day it was and I've never put in the effort to change it.

Native English speaker also.

[–] klemptor@startrek.website 2 points 4 days ago

Interesting! My google apps all changed to French, I wonder why yours didn't.

[–] Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 3 points 4 days ago

English and my native language. It depends on my mood. Usually, if you need to find some resolution to the technical issues, it’s easier to use English.

[–] Papanca@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

English, which is not my native language

[–] ghashul@feddit.dk 4 points 5 days ago

I have everything in English, even though it is not my native language. It was what the versions of DOS were as a kid, and I got so used to it that using the Danish version seems odd to me.

Most things are in German, but if something isn't translated to German yet or I can't be bothered to change it from English, it doesn't bother me much to use it in English either.

[–] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 4 points 5 days ago

All my devices (PC, Smartwatch, Steam Deck etc) are in (British) English, with the exception of my phone, which is in my native German.

[–] Moonguide@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 days ago

Native Spanish, who learnt English at an early age and Italian later on. Everything's in English, though from time to time I'll switch to Italian when I feel my grasp on the language weaken.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

System language is usually native (due to keyboard layout)
But most programs are launched in the english UI so I can troubleshoot it easier by searching the exact issue.

It is such a bitch to install debian with a qwertz layoit but english localizatiom...

Edit: I tried qwerty but it is usually annoying for the odd letter I need.

[–] tiredturtle@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago

It started with DOS and I don't even know if there was a possibility to have it localized.