Comments on: Flag as a symbol of language – usability or convenience?

By: Bogdan

Bogdan — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:47:11 +0000

Johnp,

language codes aren’t easy for the majority of internet users. Web-developers, surely, are quite familiar with such codes, but not ordinary users.

As for the language name – yes, I do agree it’s the least offending option. The reason to use flags is faster recognition of the fact that there are other language versions available. So it is the choice of the developer/web-master either to sacrifice tolerance or to somewhat hamper the speed of noticing alternative language versions.

By: johnp

johnp — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:57:39 +0000

I’m from Canada, and I am offended every time I see a U.S/U.K flag for English. The English language is, or should be, associated with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc., as strongly as with the U.S. and/or the U.K. The same goes for France and the French language. The idea that “country of origin” is a significant consideration is not accepted by everyone. Using a flag icon implies that one thinks it is. The benefit in terms of usability is not worth offending the many people who would disagree. Why not use a neutral alternative like the name or code of the language?

By: Bogdan

Bogdan — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:08:50 +0000

Pedro,

The first of the points in the post says that “binding a country flag to a language is OK, as long as it is not an ambiguous binding”. The cases of Spanish and also English, French and some other languages aren’t exactly ambiguous (as there’s no trouble in identifying the language behind the flag), but due to their widespread use this can really cause dissatisfaction at minimum, and hostility at maximum. I have to admit that (Spanish language, Chile and Spain are used solely as examples):

if the web-site is about Spain, and is available in several languages, then it can use Spanish flag as a symbol of Spanish language. This shouldn’t pose any problems – just because the site itself is Spain-related
if the web-site is Chilean (about Chile or related to Chile), and has several languages, it might be normal to use Chilean flag as a symbol of Spanish language-version (based on the fact that Spanish is the only official language of Chile)
if the web-site is international (not really related to either Chile or Spain), and has Spanish language available, it would be better to avoid using the flag of Spain/Chile/other countries, as to avoid hurting national feelings. In this case, using language name alone would be best, I think.

As for the Catalan, Basque and Galician: those languages, to the best of my knowledge, are official in the respective territories of Spain. However, personally I’m not aware of national symbols such as flags for those communities. And the official language and flag for the whole of Spain is Spanish. So I see no problem here. Or am I missing something?

As for English, the most frequent version I’ve seen is a kind of a “diagonal hybrid” of US/UK flags :). However, I see no ambiguity here. If someone knows English enough to read, then that someone also knows English-speaking countries and their symbols.

Do we reach an agreement here?

By: Pedro

Pedro — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:21:24 +0000

I’m Chilean and I hate when I see a flag from Spain meaning my language. I think than Spaniards who speak Catalan, Basque or Galician might also dislike that choice. I also think that many Chileans probably don’t know how the flag from Spain looks like.

Another point is that in many sites English is represented by the American flag, so the symbol is not always the same. This is worse for Spanish, with more than 20 possible flags.