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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Debian -- Debian Website in different Languages </title> <link rel="author" href="mailto:webmaster@debian.org"> <meta name="Generator" content="WML 2.32.0"> <meta name="Modified" content="2024-11-09 19:46:58"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"> <meta name="mobileoptimized" content="300"> <meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="true"> <link href="../debhome.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="../startpage.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="../5img-carousel-slider.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="../debian-en.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico"> <meta name="Keywords" content="debian, GNU, linux, unix, open source, free, DFSG"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Debian website search" href="../search.en.xml"> </head> <body> <div id="header"> <div id="upperheader"> <div id="logo"> <a href="../" title="Debian Home"><img src="../Pics/openlogo-50.png" alt="Debian" width="50" height="61"></a> </div>  <div id="searchbox"> <form name="p" method="get" action="https://search.debian.org/cgi-bin/omega"> <p> <input type="hidden" name="DB" value="en"> <input name="P" value="" size="14"> <input type="submit" value="Search"> </p> </form> </div>  </div>   <div id="navbar"> <p class="hidecss"><a href="#content">Skip Quicknav</a></p> <ul>  <li><a href="https://bits.debian.org/" title="Bits from Debian">Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://micronews.debian.org" title="Micronews from Debian">Micronews</a></li> <li><a href="https://planet.debian.org/" title="The Planet of Debian">Planet</a></li> </ul> </div>  <p id="breadcrumbs">  </p> </div>   <div id="content"> <h1>Debian Website in different Languages</h1> <link href="../font-awesome.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <div id="toc"> <ul class="toc"> <li><a href="#intro">Content Negotiation</a></li> <li><a href="#howtoset">How to set a Web Browser's Language</a></li> <li><a href="#override">How to override the Settings</a></li> <li><a href="#fix">Troubleshooting</a></li> </ul> </div> <h2><a id="intro">Content Negotiation</a></h2> <p> A team of <a href="../devel/website/translating">translators</a> works on the Debian website to convert it for a growing number of different languages. But how does the language switch in the web browser work? A standard called <a href="../devel/website/content_negotiation">content negotiation</a> allows users to set their preferred language(s) for web content. The version they see is negotiated between the web browser and the web server: the browser sends the preferences to the server, and the server then decides which version to deliver (based on the users' preferences and the available versions). </p> <p style="text-align:center"><button type="button"><span class="fas fa-book-open fa-2x"></span> <a href="http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-lang-priorities">Read more at W3C</a></button></p> <p> Not everyone knows about content negotiation, so links at the bottom of every Debian page point to other available versions. Please note that selecting a different language from this list will only affect the current page. It doesn't change the default language of your web browser. If you follow another link to a different page, you will see it in the default language again. </p> <p> In order to change your default language, you have two options: </p> <ul> <li><a href="#howtoset">Configure your web browser</a></li> <li><a href="#override">Override your browser's language preferences</a></li> </ul> <p> Jump straight to the configuration instructions for these web browsers:</p> <p> [<a href="#chromium">Chrome/Chromium</a>] [<a href="#elinks">ELinks</a>] [<a href="#epiphany">Epiphany</a>] [<a href="#mozillafirefox">Firefox</a>] [<a href="#ibrowse">IBrowse</a>] [<a href="#icab">iCab</a>] [<a href="#iceweasel">IceCat (Iceweasel)</a>] [<a href="#ie">Internet Explorer</a>] [<a href="#konqueror">Konqueror</a>] [<a href="#lynx">Lynx</a>] [<a href="#edge">Microsoft Edge</a>] [<a href="#opera">Opera</a>] [<a href="#safari">Safari</a>] [<a href="#w3m">W3M</a>] [<a href="#vivaldi">Vivaldi</a>] </p> <aside> <p><span class="fas fa-caret-right fa-3x"></span> The original language of the Debian website is English. Therefore, it's a good idea to add English (<code>en</code>) at the bottom of your language list. This works as a backup in case a page hasn't yet been translated into any of your preferred languages.</p> </aside> <h2><a id="howtoset">How to set a Web Browser's Language</a></h2> <p> Before we describe how to configure the language settings in different web browsers, some general remarks. Firstly, it's a good idea to include all languages you speak to your list of preferred languages. For example, if you're a native French speaker, you can choose <code>fr</code> as your first language, followed by English with the language code <code>en</code>. </p> <p> Secondly, in some browsers you can enter language codes instead of choosing from a menu. If that's the case, keep in mind that creating a list like <code>fr, en</code> doesn't define your preference. Instead, it will define equally ranked options, and the web server can decide to ignore the order and just pick one of the languages. If you want to specify a real preference, you have to work with so-called quality values, i.e. floating point values between 0 and 1. A higher value indicates a higher priority. If we go back to the example with French and English language, you can modify the above example like this: </p> <pre> fr; q=1.0, en; q=0.5 </pre> <h3>Be careful with Country Codes</h3> <p> A web server which receives a request for a document with the preferred language <code>en-GB, fr</code> does <strong>not always</strong> serve the English version before the French one. It will only do so if a page with the language extension <code>en-gb</code> exists. It does work the other way around, though: a server can return a <code>en-us</code> page if just <code>en</code> is included in the preferred languages list. </p> <p> We therefore recommend not to add two-letter country codes like <code>en-GB</code> or <code>en-US</code>, unless you have a very good reason. If you do add one, make sure to include the language code without the extension as well: <code>en-GB, en, fr</code> </p> <p style="text-align:center"><button type="button"><span class="fas fa-book-open fa-2x"></span> <a href="https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/content-negotiation.html">More about Content Negotiation</a></button></p> <h3>Instructions for different Web Browsers</h3> <p> We've compiled a list of popular web browsers and some instructions on how to change the preferred language for web content in their settings: </p> <div class="row">  <div class="column column-left"> <div style="text-align: left"> <ul> <li><strong> <a name="chromium" id="chromium">Chrome/Chromium</a> </strong><br> At the top right, open the menu and click <em>Settings</em> -> <em>Advanced</em> -> <em>Languages</em>. Open the <em>Language</em> menu to see a list of languages. Click on the three dots next to an entry to change the order. You can also add new languages if necessary.</li> <li><strong> <a name="elinks" id="elinks">ELinks</a> </strong><br> Setting the default language via <em>Setup</em> -> <em>Language</em> will also change the requested language from web sites. You can change this behavior and fine-tune the <em>Accept-Language header</em> at <em>Setup</em> -> <em>Options manager</em> -> <em>Protocols</em> -> <em>HTTP</em></li> <li><strong> <a name="epiphany" id="epiphany">Epiphany</a> </strong><br> Open <em>Preferences</em> from the main menu and switch to the <em>Language</em> tab. Here you can add, remove and arrange languages.</li> <li><strong> <a name="mozillafirefox" id="mozillafirefox">Firefox</a> </strong><br> In the menu bar at the top open <em>Preferences</em>. Scroll down to <em>Language and appearance</em> -> <em>Language</em> in the <em>General</em> panel. Click the button <em>Choose</em> to set your preferred language for displaying websites. In the same dialog you can also add, remove and reorder languages.</li> <li><strong> <a name="ibrowse" id="ibrowse">IBrowse</a> </strong><br> Go into <em>Preferences</em> -> <em>Settings</em> -> <em>Network</em>. <em>Accept language</em> probably shows a * which is the default. If you click on the <em>Locale</em> button, you should be able to add your preferred language. If not, you can enter it manually.</li> <li><strong> <a name="icab" id="icab">iCab</a> </strong><br> <em>Edit</em> -> <em>Preferences</em> -> <em>Browser</em> -> <em>Fonts, Languages</em></li> <li><strong> <a name="iceweasel" id="iceweasel">IceCat (Iceweasel)</a> </strong><br> <em>Edit</em> -> <em>Preferences</em> -> <em>Content</em> -> <em>Languages</em> -> <em>Choose</em></li> <li><strong> <a name="ie" id="ie">Internet Explorer</a> </strong><br> Click the <em>Tools</em> icon, select <em>Internet options</em>, switch to the <em>General</em> tab, and click the <em>Languages</em> button. Click <em>Set Language Preferences</em>, and in the following dialog you can add, remove and re-order languages.</li> </ul> </div> </div>  <div class="column column-right"> <div style="text-align: left"> <ul> <li><strong> <a name="konqueror" id="konqueror">Konqueror</a> </strong><br> Edit the file <em>~/.kde/share/config/kio_httprc</em> and include the following new line:<br> <code>Languages=fr;q=1.0, en;q=0.5</code></li> <li><strong> <a name="lynx" id="lynx">Lynx</a> </strong><br> Edit the file <em>~/.lynxrc</em> and enter the following line:<br> <code>preferred_language=fr; q=1.0, en; q=0.5</code><br> Alternatively, you can open the browser's settings by pressing [O]. Scroll down to <em>Preferred language</em> and add the above.</li> <li><strong> <a name="edge" id="edge">Microsoft Edge</a> </strong><br> <em>Settings and more</em> -> <em>Settings</em> -> <em>Languages</em> -> <em>Add languages</em><br> Click the three-dotted button next to a language entry for more options and to change the order.</li> <li><strong> <a name="opera" id="opera">Opera</a> </strong><br> <em>Settings</em> -> <em>Browser</em> -> <em>Languages</em> -> <em>Preferred languages</em></li> <li><strong> <a name="safari" id="safari">Safari</a> </strong><br> Safari uses the system-wide settings on macOS and iOS, so in order to define your preferred language, please open <em>System Preferences</em> (macOS) or <em>Settings</em> (iOS).</li> <li><strong> <a name="w3m" id="w3m">W3M</a> </strong><br> Press [O] to open the <em>Option Setting Panel</em>, scroll down to <em>Network Settings</em> -> <em>Accept-Language header</em>. Press [Enter] to change the settings (for example <code>fr; q=1.0, en; q=0.5</code>) and confirm with [Enter]. Scroll all the way down to [OK] to save your settings.</li> <li><strong> <a name="vivaldi" id="vivaldi">Vivaldi</a> </strong><br> Go to <em>Settings</em> -> <em>General</em> -> <em>Language</em> -> <em>Accepted Languages</em>, click <em>Add Language</em> and choose one from the menu. Use the arrows to change the order of your preferences.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <aside> <p><span class="fas fa-caret-right fa-3x"></span> While it's always better to select your preferred language in the browser configuration, there is an option to override the settings with a cookie.</p> </aside> <h2><a id="override">How to override the Settings</a></h2> <p> If for whatever reason you're not able to define your preferred language in the browser's settings, device or computing environment, you can override the preferences using a cookie as a last resort. Click one of the buttons below to put a single language on top of the list. </p> <p> Please note that this will set a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie">cookie</a>. Your browser will automatically delete it if you don't visit this website for a month. Of course, you can always delete the cookie manually in your web browser or by clicking the button <em>Browser default</em>. </p> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/unsetlang/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Browser default" title="Unset the language override cookie" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/ar/intro/cn"> <div><input value="عربية (Arabiya)" title="Arabic" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/bg/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Български (Bəlgarski)" title="Bulgarian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/ca/intro/cn"> <div><input value="català" title="Catalan" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/cs/intro/cn"> <div><input value="česky" title="Czech" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/da/intro/cn"> <div><input value="dansk" title="Danish" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/de/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Deutsch" title="German" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/el/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Ελληνικά (Ellinika)" title="Greek" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/en/intro/cn"> <div><input value="English" title="English" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/es/intro/cn"> <div><input value="español" title="Spanish" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/fa/intro/cn"> <div><input value="فارسی (Farsi)" title="Persian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/fr/intro/cn"> <div><input value="français" title="French" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/gl/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Galego" title="Galician" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/hr/intro/cn"> <div><input value="hrvatski" title="Croatian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/id/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Indonesia" title="Indonesian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/it/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Italiano" title="Italian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/ko/intro/cn"> <div><input value="한국어 (Korean)" title="Korean" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/hu/intro/cn"> <div><input value="magyar" title="Hungarian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/nl/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Nederlands" title="Dutch" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/ja/intro/cn"> <div><input value="日本語 (Nihongo)" title="Japanese" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/nb/intro/cn"> <div><input value="norsk (bokmål)" title="Norwegian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/pl/intro/cn"> <div><input value="polski" title="Polish" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/pt/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Português" title="Portuguese" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/ro/intro/cn"> <div><input value="română" title="Romanian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/ru/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Русский (Russkij)" title="Russian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/sk/intro/cn"> <div><input value="sloven膷ina" title="Slovak" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/fi/intro/cn"> <div><input value="suomi" title="Finnish" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/sv/intro/cn"> <div><input value="svenska" title="Swedish" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/vi/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Tiếng Việt" title="Vietnamese" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/tr/intro/cn"> <div><input value="Türkçe" title="Turkish" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/uk/intro/cn"> <div><input value="українська (ukrajins'ka)" title="Ukrainian" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/zh/intro/cn"> <div><input value="中文(简)" title="Chinese (China)" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/zh/intro/cn"> <div><input value="中文(HK)" title="Chinese (Hong Kong)" type="submit"></div> </form> <form style="display: inline;" method="POST" action="/intro/cn/setlang/zh/intro/cn"> <div><input value="中文(繁)" title="Chinese (Taiwan)" type="submit"></div> </form> <h2><a id="fix">Troubleshooting</a></h2> <p> Sometimes the Debian website appears in the wrong language despite all efforts to set a preferred language. Our first suggestion is to clean out the local cache (both disk and memory) in your browser before trying to reload the website. If you're absolutely sure that you've <a href="#howtoset">configured your browser</a> properly, then a broken or a misconfigured cache might be the problem. This is becoming a serious issue these days, as more and more ISPs see caching as a way of decreasing their net traffic. Read the <a href="#cache">section</a> about proxy servers even if you don't think you're using one. </p> <p> <a href="https://manytools.org/http-html-text/browser-language/">Display the list of languages</a> your browser says you prefer. </p> <p> By all means, it's always possible that there is a problem with <a href="https://www.debian.org/">www.debian.org</a>. While only a handful of language problems reported in the last years were caused by a bug on our end, it is entirely possible. We therefore suggest that you investigate your own settings and a potential caching issue first, before you <a href="../contact">get in touch</a> with us. If <a href="https://www.debian.org/">https://www.debian.org/</a> is working, but one of the <a href="https://www.debian.org/mirror/list">mirrors</a> is not, please report this so we can contact the mirror maintainers. </p> <h3><a name="cache">Potential Problems with Proxy Servers</a></h3> <p> Proxy servers are essentially web servers that have no content of their own. They sit in the middle between users and real web servers, grab the requests for web pages, and fetch the pages. After that, they forward the content to the users' web browsers, but also make a local, cached copy which is used for later requests. This can really cut down on network traffic when many users request the same page. </p> <p> While this can be a good idea most of the time, it also causes failures when the cache is buggy. In particular, some older proxy servers do not understand content negotiation. This results in them caching a page in one language and serving that, even if a different language is requested later. The only solution is to upgrade or replace the caching software. </p> <p> Historically, proxy servers were only used when people configured their web browser accordingly. However, this is no longer the case. Your ISP may be redirecting all HTTP requests through a transparent proxy. If the proxy doesn't handle content negotiation properly, then users can receive cached pages in the wrong language. The only way you can fix this is to complain to your ISP in order for them to upgrade or replace their software. </p> <div class="clr"></div> </div>  <div id="footer"> <hr class="hidecss"> <p>Back to the <a href="../">Debian Project homepage</a>.</p> <hr>  <div id="pageLang"> <div id="langSelector"> This page is also available in the following languages: <div id="langContainer"> <select onchange="location = this.value;"> <option value="" disabled selected>Select your language</option> <option value="cn.ca.html" title="Catalan" lang="ca">català</option> <option value="cn.da.html" title="Danish" lang="da">dansk</option> <option value="cn.de.html" title="German" lang="de">Deutsch</option> <option value="cn.es.html" title="Spanish" lang="es">español</option> <option value="cn.fr.html" title="French" lang="fr">français</option> <option value="cn.gl.html" title="Galician" lang="gl">Galego</option> <option value="cn.it.html" title="Italian" lang="it">Italiano</option> <option value="cn.hu.html" title="Hungarian" lang="hu">magyar</option> <option value="cn.nl.html" title="Dutch" lang="nl">Nederlands</option> <option value="cn.nb.html" title="Norwegian" lang="nb">norsk (bokmål)</option> <option value="cn.pl.html" title="Polish" lang="pl">polski</option> <option value="cn.pt.html" title="Portuguese" lang="pt">Português</option> <option value="cn.ro.html" title="Romanian" lang="ro">română</option> <option value="cn.sk.html" title="Slovak" lang="sk">sloven膷ina</option> <option value="cn.fi.html" title="Finnish" lang="fi">suomi</option> <option value="cn.sv.html" title="Swedish" lang="sv">svenska</option> <option value="cn.bg.html" title="Bulgarian" lang="bg">Български (Bəlgarski)</option> <option value="cn.ru.html" title="Russian" lang="ru">Русский (Russkij)</option> <option value="cn.uk.html" title="Ukrainian" lang="uk">українська (ukrajins'ka)</option> <option value="cn.zh-cn.html" title="Chinese (China)" lang="zh-CN">中文(简)</option> <option value="cn.zh-hk.html" title="Chinese (Hong Kong)" lang="zh-HK">中文(HK)</option> <option value="cn.zh-tw.html" title="Chinese (Taiwan)" lang="zh-TW">中文(繁)</option> <option value="cn.ja.html" title="Japanese" lang="ja">日本語 (Nihongo)</option> <option value="cn.ko.html" title="Korean" lang="ko">한국어 (Korean)</option> <option value="cn.el.html" title="Greek" lang="el">Ελληνικά (Ellinika)</option> </select> </div> How to set <a href="../intro/cn">the default document language</a> </div></div> <hr> <div id="fineprint">  <p>See our <a href="../contact">contact page</a> to get in touch. Web site source code is <a href="https://salsa.debian.org/webmaster-team/webwml">available</a>.</p> <p> Last Modified: Tue, Oct 3 14:54:24 UTC 2023 &emsp; Last Built: Sat, Nov 9 19:46:59 UTC 2024 <br> Copyright © 1997-2023 <a href="https://www.spi-inc.org/">SPI</a> and others; See <a href="../license" rel="copyright">license terms</a><br> Debian is a registered <a href="../trademark">trademark</a> of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. </p>  </div> </div>  </body> </html>