Are you using flags in the language switcher?

I recently read an interesting article on the Internet about the use of flags in the language switch on the site.

I personally used to use it, now I do not use it. But I don't think there is anything wrong with using flags, a cool graphic element. I think it matters little whether we use flags or not. However, the use of flags is often heavily criticized on the Internet.
If it is directed at countries then there is no topic flags are ok.
But for example, a global site.
English language...Theoretically most often British flag, but still can be the flag of England. How about the USA?
In theory, a person from India can go wrong with the flag of the country of which it is a former colony.
The U.S. in general may not be well liked in many African or Asian countries.

Another global language Spanish, the most common flag of Spain. however, the most populous country is Mexico and the USA. But here I think there is no cultural controversy.

Chinese, reportedly, people from Taiwan or HongKong may feel offended by the Chinese flag, or even the simplified language.

Russian is not a global language, but in several neighboring countries a lot of people speak Russian. E.g. in Ukraine, most people speak Russian, often better than their native language. And needless to say they are currently at war.

In my opinion this is a bit of an exaggeration, because I think 99% of people don't mind this or that flag and just want to read in a language they understand and it's all an exaggeration. Admittedly, I myself do not use flags at my place, but not for these reasons.
What is your approach to the subject and what practice do you use on your site.

Good points you made about how a certain portion of visitors may feel about the flags.

Rick
Universal4

I found a strange division of languages even at the bookmaker. It is about 18bet

They have traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese
Both marked with the flag of mainland China. One Chinese language has the code zh with them and the other zhh
Traditional Chinese probably mainly targets Taiwan, so China flag on average. Unless they are targeting China for people who use traditional script.

As you can see, even the bookmakers have trouble with this.

That is a good point. I just didn´t understand if you are talking about a button for translation (automatic) or hreflang, to direct user to another domain/subdomain you own.

Depending on the case I believe you can set the flag based on for which public your content caters. I mean, if your site is in Spanish, with focus on Mexico, the flag will give the user a hint. I say this because as a user, it is "strange" to see the Portugal flag instead of Brazilian, in sites that are indeed focused on Brazil. I know it relates to the language.

I believe most places, put or should put the flag, where the language originated from, unless it has transformed so much to the point it's unrecognizable. I remember years ago, in a gaming forum, trolling that English was represented by the British flag, but there are over 300m Americans, so it should be the US flag based on the users, and it transformed into this 32 page thread. At the end I had to close it, because of the serious derail that went political.

Point is people get really touchy, without putting much thought in it.

Like as a nation if you feel offended by a flag of another country, why are you speaking their language? Probably should have made up your own...

If I was to use languages I would take the Swiss neutral approach and just label them EN, DE, FR no flags no nothing. These days everyone wants recognition and is so touchy, can't be bothered with first world complains and sissy fits.

Flags are more suitable since we're in an industry where local regulations differ between countries and this is constantly advancing in this direction with more regulations popping up in more countries worldwide.

These are the posts I like, elaborating on question I never thought I had...Amazing article

I have never attached such importance to flags. Rather you just automatically press and that's it. I usually pay more attention to the abbreviation

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dannyx

I recently read an interesting article on the Internet about the use of flags in the language switch on the site.

---

Thank you for bringing this up; I had never considered it before.


To avoid misunderstandings, I think it's best to use labels like En - Spa from now on, especially now that everything takes on a political tone so quickly.

Good point, thank you for bringing this up. I believe the flags would be especially sensitive subject in CIS region, given recent events.

I am using

Flags are a popular design choice when representing a language. However, this is generally not a good practice. A common reason for using flags to represent languages is definitely because it draws attention. While it's an effective way for a web site visitor to see that you have language options, that is where it ends.

The problem with using flags to represent language options is that you can end up completely losing your audience before you even allow them to select their preferred language.

Consider the example of Latin America. Spanish is the main language of the region, but if you use the Spanish flag to represent the entire region that speak this language, you are simply going to exclude all the other countries that speak this language.

The Spanish flag can only represent Spain. What about the different variations of Spanish spoken all over Latin America. The Spanish spoken in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina is vastly different from the Spanish spoken in Spain.

If you are targeting Latin American countries but use a Spanish flag to represent that specific language option this will result in widespread confusion among your potential audience as they simply don't connect their own language with that country.

I just changed the display of the language change switch.
I eliminated the drop-down list and now all available languages are visible at once, without any drop-down list.
It seems to me that this can be a good option, not everyone clicks on the drop-down list.