[kiiski]

What makes you think that? If their computer came with an OS preinstalled, with Mongolian, for example, as the language, they would not have to ever see any English anywhere. A flag might be more universally recognized way of selecting the right language.

[shared4you]

The flag doesn't work for the billion people of India. We are massively multilingual; we have 22 official languages. Google.co.in is offered in 9 of those 22 languages -- each one with its own unique script, which are mutually un-intelligible. One Indian flag for all languages? No, thanks. Look at the confusion caused by the Metropolitan Police website [1].

If you can afford two pop-up lists, the approach of Lufthansa is the best [2]. If you want just one list, follow the installation screen of Ubuntu -- they write out the name of the language in its own script.

[1]: http://flagsarenotlanguages.com/blog/2011/09/the-metropolita...

[2]: http://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/pre-homepage?command=cc&lang=...

[Hello71]

http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/flags.html

[pyre]

Or just have each language option specified in said language, so that native-only speakers and pick it out.