[Feature Request] Reduce List of Languages in the Language Picker when Starting to Write a New Post

[ghost]

The user should select the language of his posts by selecting from a language picker in the edit screen. This is fine for people using just one language. If the user switches regularly the current implementation is quite annoying. To switch e.g. between German and English it is necessary to scroll down quite a while in the dropdown list to be able to select the correct language. So probably nobody will ever do this.

Therefore I'd like to request a setting for selecting the usually used languages. If a number of languages has been selected I could imagine two solutions:

• option 1: The language picker dropdown list shows only the languages selected before
• option 2: The language picker shows the previously selected languages at the very top of the language list in the dropdown list.

[ashemedai]

It seems to populate the top of the language selection dropdown based on the languages/keyboards you have configured in Android itself. In my case Dutch, English, Japanese and Korean are at the top.

[ghost]

In my case German is on top of the list. If I want to switch to English I have to scroll all the way down since the other languages are listed simply in alphabetical order. Maybe it depends on the device? I'm running different Samsung devices with Android 13. The language setting of the keyboard definitely doesn't have any impact.

[connyduck]

It uses your system languages. Android allows you to select multiple

[ghost]

Thank you for the explanation. Apparently most apps do not actively use this feature. So I was not aware of this. After enabling the second language the list now shows German and at he top of the list. Thanks!

EDIT: Maybe this should be explained somewhere. Most users won't know about this?

[Lakoja]

EDIT: Maybe this should be explained somewhere. Most users won't know about this?

I like the "go with the system config" approach. Furthermore an active explanation would be potentially "over the top".

But maybe a small heading / different sections in that drop-down wouldn't go amiss.

Something like this:

System configured

• Englisch
• Austrian

All languages

• ...

Or as another improvement step: track the used languages and place the most recently used at the top. "System configured" + "Frequently used" + "All"

[ghost]

Or as another improvement step: track the used languages and place the most recently used at the top. "System configured" + "Frequently used" + "All"

That would also be a great idea.

I don't know whether I'm the only one using no other app needing to set up a second language systemwide and therefore not being aware of this possibility at all?

Nevertheless I guess it's a nice to have feature since most users probably post in one language only.

[xsuchy]

It uses your system languages. Android allows you to select multiple

I have Android 12 with MIUI 13 (Xiami) and it allows me to select only one language for input. (Additional settings/Languages&input/Languages)

[Tak]

Please check out the behavior in Tusky 20 and give us your feedback

[ghost]

Since my device can handle several UI languages the current solution is fine for me. For users having a device not supporting more than one UI language the current solution is not the best user experience. So it would probably be great to either give the user the option to select the preferred languages for new posts or to remember the last ones he used. Whatever is easier to implement...

[Tak]

The option to set the preferred posting language is coming in #2946

[ghost]

Does #2946 allow just one posting language as preferred or more than one? It was my initial problem having to scroll way down every time switch e.g. between German and English. One devices supporting just one UI language will still have this problem.

[jollysea]

It uses your system languages. Android allows you to select multiple

There is no Luxembourgish for Android and I guess that's true for other languages as well. I think it'll need another solution. Thank you!

[nikclayton]

Another user report: https://mastodon.social/@skye@mastodon.lol/109457375372234884

[xsuchy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x6UC46clq4 Recording how I write something in Czech, then switch to English and then switch back to Czech.

[moeffju]

II have this issue as well. Using the system facilities is great, but given the state of the Android ecosystem, unlikely to meet everyone's needs due to varying support.

For me, even a list of languages would work to let me pin the few languages that I speak to the top of the list. The "system" solution, unfortunately, does not. :(

[detrophy]

I also would like to see the option to set specific languages for toots. Many users set one system language but use different keyboard languages.

[nikclayton]

https://chaos.social/@atextor/110434734307282207 is a report from a user where their Android version does not support setting multiple languages at all. So I don't think we can rely on that, and will probably need to build a mechanism to let people specify their list of preferred posting languages.

[hmpf]

I would prefer such a list of preferred posting languages is only in Tusky (an alternative is storing it in the mastodon profile itself.) Because: makes the user database in the mastodon instance less of a juicy target. (Now, if there was a way to have encrypted preferences in the mastodon instance...)

I can only have one system language. I currently have two keyboard languages, but that's not sufficient either since you can write for instance both Danish and Norwegian with a Danish or Norwegian keyboard, ditto AFAIK Welsh and English...