The other issue you rightly point out is that of translation - how do we EASILY make the Web multilingual? The “Babel Fish” we do have at the moment is often unintentionally hilarious - but you wouldn’t want to have your livelihood depending on it. Bob Sutton also highlighted a similar problem getting the title of “The No Asshole Rule” translated so that the SENSE of the title was preserved.

Good luck … should be interesting. BTW - are you daring enough to open up access to the Google document?

But the topic goes beyond language itself. It may seem it is about people and their language mainly, but it is actually also about location. The problems you experienced recently with a Website assuming you speak German, or the problems I am experiencing with Google assuming I want to search within Switzerland only, all those issues are related to more than just bad programming.

As we continue to expand on the Web’s abilities and interaction features, we will have to fundamentally reconstruct our idea of locations and the people living in those locations. To assume languages, or people’s behavior bound to locations is an outdated model, rooted in the traditional thinking of countries and the idea that people stay where they are at all times.

So while the Web has improved as an ever changing, multi lingual, multi cultural tool that makes people communicate and connect across oceans and borders, it can no longer assume that where I live defines what language I speak or who I am. New ways need to be developed, a better AI is required, to define language preferences based on behavior patterns rather than on server IPs.

We separate content from function and form already. This is widely considered one of the best things that have happened to the Web lately. So why not taking that same approach towards languages, locations and people’s preferences? Why can’t we separate ourselves from the idea that location is the driving factor for our lives, when globalization and multi cultural exchange in trading, business, education and communication already proves a different reality?

Last but not least, this question has a lot to do with usability. Removing user-driven choices with an “auto pilot” functionality, which forces me to twist and bend to work around a usability flaw the service installed which I’m trying to use—isn’t that against all principles the modern Web is standing for?