website design - Language of language names in the language selector?

Imagine a site that's available in multiple languages. The language is detected automatically by looking at the IP or the browser header. But that's not bulletproof, so a few users might end up on a page in language they don't understand.

I am wondering what the best way is to present the language selection?

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Q: Should the languages in the language selection be listed

1. translated into current language, used to display the site in (good if the detected language was correct)?


2. native name of the language, so everybody looking for their language could see it in the very same language (good if the detected language was not correct and users don't know the current language)?


3. always in English assuming most users would understand this?

Feel free to add if I missed something!

Answer

Option 2 is the best option, because you'll recognize your own language regardless of your knowledge of other languages (be sure to also provide character sets if you support for example Japanese)

Problems with options 1 and 3

Option 1. If you don't speak / understand the current language you may not recognize your own language. In the example Germans would have it the most difficult.

Option 3. English is the easiest to implement because as you mention most people will understand English. However if your website has translations available, you probably expect visitors with poor English skills..

You could also make a dropdown with a combination of the list in options 2 and 3. eg. German / Deutsch