How Can I Reliably Detect a User's Browser Language Preference Using JavaScript?

Detecting Browser Language Preference Using JavaScript

Detecting the user's preferred language in a web browser is essential for personalizing user experiences. However, different browsers have varying mechanisms for setting language preferences.

In Internet Explorer, the preferred language can be configured in Tools > Internet Options > General > Languages. However, accessing this setting using JavaScript has remained a challenge.

Similarly, in Firefox, the preferred language is set in Tools > Options > Content > Languages. While navigator.language retrieves the language set in Start > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Regional Options, it fails to detect the browser-specific setting.

After researching this issue, it was discovered that the browser's preferred language settings do not affect JavaScript's navigator.language property. Instead, they alter the HTTP 'Accept-Language' header. However, JavaScript lacks direct access to this header.

To address this challenge, a workaround has been developed. The Google App Engine script at http://ajaxhttpheaders.appspot.com returns HTTP request headers using JSONP. By utilizing this script, the following jQuery code can be used to retrieve the preferred language:

$.ajax({
    url: "http://ajaxhttpheaders.appspot.com",
    dataType: 'jsonp',
    success: function(headers) {
        language = headers['Accept-Language'];
        nowDoSomethingWithIt(language);
    }
});

Furthermore, a jQuery plugin has been released on GitHub to simplify this functionality: https://github.com/dansingerman/jQuery-Browser-Language

For further reference, the App Engine code used for this workaround is available at https://github.com/dansingerman/app-engine-headers.

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