TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S): Google Language Tools

Howdy, y'all, and greetings once again from deep behind the Orange Curtain in the beautiful city of Irvine, California, nummy cheddar cheese goldfish capital of central Orange County. :P

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In fact, don't tell Fred this, but I like the LangaList so much that I've been SERIOUSLY thinking about copying a couple of things that Fred does in each of his posts -- the monthly drawings and the "They Loaded the Code" section -- and doing them in TOURBUS. But that's just between you and me. :P

On with the show ...

Google Language Tools

If English is not your native tongue, or if you want to play a REALLY mean trick on one of your friends, you'll be happy to know that the Google interface is now available in 74 different languages. This means you can now set the Google homepage, messages, and buttons to display in almost any language you can imagine.

To see what Google looks like in another language, point your Web browser to

http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

and scroll down to the middle of the page. Just above the collection of flags you'll see a box titled "Use the Google Interface in Your Language" that contains text links to a whole mess of languages. Just click on the language you want and up pops the Google homepage in that language. For example, click on "German" and you'll see the familiar Google page, only everything on the page is written in German. The "Google Search" button becomes "Google-Suche," the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button becomes "Auf Gut Gluck," and so on.

It is the same Google interface that you know and love, just in a different language.

Google's Language Tools don't change or translate the hits to another language -- a search for "Patrick Crispen" in ANY language still gives you my NetSquirrel.com homepage in plain old English. All the Language Tools do is let you change the language in which Google's *interface* appears on your computer.

The cool thing about the list of languages that are available is that mixed in with traditional languages like French, German, and Spanish, are non-traditional languages like "Elmer Fudd," "Hacker," and "Klingon." (And, for those who are interested, "jlDo'" is Klingon for "I'm feeling lucky.")

To make any language permanent -- to make sure that, from now on, Google only displays in the language that you want -- point your Web browser to

http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en

and choose the language you want from the "Interface Language" pull- down list. Google will drop a cookie on your computer ensuring that, from now on, Google's interface uses the language that you have chosen.

And, as I said earlier, this is a great way to play a REALLY mean trick on one of your friends. With a simple click of a mouse, you can change your friends' Google interface to Latin ... or even Pig Latin ("I'may Eelingfay Uckylay!")

Best of all, it is a snap to change Google back to its default language (English): just delete your cookies.

If the last time you "deleted your cookies" was at a kegger at the Deke house, don't panic. Microsoft has created a free page that shows you, step-by-step, how to delete your cookies in pretty much every version of Internet Explorer ever made:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q278835 .

Netscape users have it even easier: search for "cookies.txt" on your hard drive and delete it. That's it. :)

Enjoy!

TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S): Google Language Tools

TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE WEEK

BEE-HIND (noun). Posterior. Usage: "Git up off yer BEE-hind, Bubba!"

[Special thanks to *me* for today's wurd]

            .~~~.  ))
  (\__/)  .'     )  ))       Patrick Douglas Crispen
  /o o  \/     .~
{o_,    \    {              crispen@netsquirrel.com
   / ,  , )    \            http://www.netsquirrel.com/ 
   `~  '-' \    } ))    AOL Instant Messenger: Squirrel2K
  _(    (   )_.'
'---..{____}                  Warning: squirrels.