How to Set the Google Maps Interface Language to English
When you're developing customers in global markets, switching the Google Maps interface to the target market's official language (or universal English) is step one for precise analysis. This guide walks you through doing it with a simple URL parameter.
Product page: Google Maps Scraper ยท Overview
1. Meet the Language Parameter (hl)โ
The hl parameter is the key parameter in Google Maps URLs โ it stands for "Host Language" and controls the map's display language.
- Default language โ If you don't set it, Google Maps picks the interface language based on your browser settings.
- Specify a language โ Manually add or change the
hlparameter in the URL to force the map to display in any supported language.
1. Parameter Formatโ
The format is simple โ prefix the target language code with hl=:
- English โ
hl=en - French โ
hl=fr
2. Supported Language Listโ
Google Maps supports more than 70 languages. Common ones and their hl values:
| Display Language | hl Value |
|---|---|
| Chinese (Simplified) | zh-CN |
| English | en |
| French | fr |
| German | de |
| Japanese | ja |
| Spanish | es |
| Russian | ru |
| Arabic | ar |
Full Language List (70+)
| Display Language | hl Value | Display Language | hl Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | af | Albanian | sq |
| Amharic | am | Arabic | ar |
| Armenian | hy | Azerbaijani | az |
| Bengali | bn | Bulgarian | bg |
| Burmese | my | Catalan | ca |
| Chinese (Simplified) | zh-CN | Chinese (Traditional) | zh-TW |
| Czech | cs | Danish | da |
| Dutch | nl | English (UK) | en-GB |
| English | en | Estonian | et |
| Filipino | fil | Finnish | fi |
| French (Canada) | fr-CA | French | fr |
| Georgian | ka | German | de |
| Greek | el | Gujarati | gu |
| Hebrew | iw | Hindi | hi |
| Hungarian | hu | Icelandic | is |
| Indonesian | id | Italian | it |
| Japanese | ja | Kannada | kn |
| Kazakh | kk | Khmer | km |
| Korean | ko | Kyrgyz | ky |
| Lao | lo | Latvian | lv |
| Lithuanian | lt | Macedonian | mk |
| Malay | ms | Malayalam | ml |
| Marathi | mr | Mongolian | mn |
| Nepali | ne | Norwegian | no |
| Persian | fa | Polish | pl |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | pt-BR | Portuguese (Portugal) | pt-PT |
| Punjabi | pa | Romanian | ro |
| Russian | ru | Serbian | sr |
| Serbian (Latin) | sr-Latn | Sinhala | si |
| Slovak | sk | Slovenian | sl |
| Spanish | es | Spanish (Latin America) | es-419 |
| Swahili | sw | Swedish | sv |
| Tamil | ta | Telugu | te |
| Thai | th | Turkish | tr |
| Ukrainian | uk | Urdu | ur |
| Uzbek | uz | Vietnamese | vi |
| Welsh | cy |
2. Hands-On Examplesโ
Say the original search URL looks like this (shows in Chinese by default):
https://www.google.com/maps/search/led/@33.9674734,-118.2538293,10.5z?entry=ttu
1. Switch to Englishโ
Append &hl=en to the original URL (use & to join parameters):
https://www.google.com/maps/search/led/@33.9674734,-118.2538293,10.5z?entry=ttu&hl=en
2. Switch to Frenchโ
Same idea โ add &hl=fr to switch to French:
https://www.google.com/maps/search/led/@33.9674734,-118.2538293,10.5z?entry=ttu&hl=fr
3. A Real-World Use Case ยท Analyzing Customer Profilesโ
When developing customers, knowing how a prospect's business name and industry category appear natively on Google Maps matters a lot. For the most accurate view, use the local language or English for analysis.
Example โ Say you find a prospect whose category in Chinese reads "LED ๆ ็ๅๅบ" โ but that's likely a translation.
Switch the interface to English (add &hl=en) and you see the native category is LED sign store โ a much better keyword for finding similar customers.
FAQโ
Q1 ยท Why switch to English or the local language?โ
To more accurately analyze how a customer's business name and category look in their home market. Using the customer's native language or universal English avoids translation noise and surfaces more natural, locally-used keywords.
Q2 ยท Does switching languages affect the search results list?โ
Usually not โ the businesses themselves don't change. But it does change the display language of business categories / interface buttons / prompts โ which is critical for understanding and analyzing the data.
Practical Tipsโ
-
- Practice makes perfect โ Try switching to the major language of your target market and browse local business info to feel the insight that comes from the language difference.
-
- Pair with keywords โ After switching languages, combine with the Google Maps Plugin Guide to optimize your keyword strategy for the best scrape results.
-
- Use the table as a reference โ Keep the language code table in this doc handy as a quick reference whenever you need to switch.
Related Readingโ
- How to Use Google Maps for Customer Development โ Combine language switching with keyword strategy and map tools for systematic foreign trade customer development.
- Google Maps Plugin FAQ โ Answers to other common plugin questions.
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