PHP Detect User language

Question

I need a script like

if ($userLanguage === 'english') {
  echo "we have detected you are English. would you like to visit our site in English?";
} else {
  header('location: /index.php?lang=default');
}

The script above is used for an example. I have looked all over google and all it gave me was geolocation scripts and such. I don't want a third party URL in my script. You never know if their service goes down or not.

Where do I find something like this?

If you're developing a site of any size or scope you're going to have to come to rely on third-party sources at some point. — Jay Blanchard, Jul 13 '15 at 17:43
It is impossible to reliably "detect" the users language. Many reasons for this. I suggest you check the http request headers for the "preferred language". — arkascha, Jul 13 '15 at 17:44

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 09 '17 at 16:29

I'm not going to repeat all the valid answers here, but this link shows another good approach (for multi-lingo websites) taking advantage of http_negotiate_language() method ^mirror

So combining that mapping and your exciting code you will have:

$map = array("en" => "english", "es" => "spanish");
$userLanguage = $map[ http_negotiate_language(array_keys($map)) ];

if ($userLanguage === 'english') {
  echo "we have detected you are English. would you like to visit our site in English?";
} else {
  header('location: /index.php?lang=default');
}

But if you are only interested to detect the english (en) language, you might want to shorten the script to:

if ('en' == substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], 0, 2)) {
  echo "we have detected you are English. would you like to visit our site in English?";
} else {
  header('location: /index.php?lang=default');
}

Strangely enough, the php.net documentation for `http_negotiate_language()` doesn't exist anymore. Haven't researched the *why* — brasofilo, Nov 09 '17 at 16:31

NorthernLights · Answer 2 · 2015-07-13T18:05:56.290

0

i would do something like this:

<?php
$language = substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], 0, 2);
switch ($language){
    case "sv":
        include("index_swedish.php");
        break;
    case "nl":
        include("index_dutch.php");
        break; 
    default:
        include("index_english.php"); // or do what ever you want
        break;

}
?>

Here is a list of browser language codes

edited Jul 13 '15 at 18:05

answered Jul 13 '15 at 17:45

NorthernLights

370
3
16

That http header might contain more than a single language. – arkascha Jul 13 '15 at 17:45
Change of plans, is it possible to detect if the user is not from netherlands (NL)? E.g. if you're german, you will get an popup that you can view the site in English and so on with every country but the netherlands. Is that possible? – Willy Wybert Jul 13 '15 at 18:02
Added a default case to the code, it should do what you are looking for. – NorthernLights Jul 13 '15 at 18:07

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 13 '15 at 17:48

0

yes the idea is good, try the short one also,

$lang = substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], 0, 2);
header("location: ".$lang."/index.php");

answered Jul 13 '15 at 17:48

Consider a default for clients that don't pass `HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE`. – ceejayoz Jul 13 '15 at 18:03

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 13 '15 at 17:49

0

$lang = substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], 0, 2);
if ($lang == 'en') {
 echo "we have detected you are English. would you like to visit our site in English?";
} 
else {
  header("location: /index.php?lang=default");
}

answered Jul 13 '15 at 17:49

charlesqwu

354
2
11

PHP Detect User language

4 Answers4