Smart search and language settings problems

Johan Barth

There are some real issues with smart search and language settings.

1. When I write a search command not in English but in Dutch, Smart Search will only use Dutch books. This is not good, because I gave no restrictions to the search range (Your Books). The search range should be determined by search range settings, not by the used language.
2. I suspect that Smart Search also doesn't use my Dutch, Spanish, French, and German resources when the search command is in English. So important resources are excluded from the search.
3. When my program language setting is Dutch, after a search command in English, Smart Search will give this remark: "Searched using Engels. Search again with Nederlands?" This is a strange, mixed language sentence. But when I click on "Nederlands", it does another search in English books and gives also an English summary. So, I don't understand the relevance of this remark.

What I would like Smart Search to do:

1. Always use the given search range (Your Books, collection, etc.). Never make an alternative search range based on the language of the search command.

2. I appreciate that search commands can be given in several languages, as it is now. However, it should not have any influence on the results.

3. If technically possible: user-adjustable settings for the language of the synopsis. This should not be the same as the language settings of the whole software. I (and other users) operate in a bilingual setting. It's natural for me to use my mother language in the program, but sometimes my writing is in Dutch and other times in English. Some flexibility is important for me.

Anderson Abreu

Yes, this is a real issue. I actually reported this limitation here in the forum back when Smart Search was still in beta testing. Indeed, the search is limited by the language in which you type the query — and that has been a significant limitation for users with multilingual libraries.

However, I’ve noticed something interesting. In some cases, when searching in English, I do get a few results from resources in my native language (Portuguese). It seems this happens when the collection or range I’m searching includes a large number of resources in another language.

In fact, I just ran a test searching in Portuguese within a collection that contains only English resources, and surprisingly, I got relevant results — which definitely wasn’t happening some months ago. I don’t recall seeing any release notes mentioning this as an improvement (if it actually was an intentional update), but it’s an encouraging sign.

This suggests that it’s technically possible for the Smart Search to overcome this language limitation and become fully multilingual — just as AI models like ChatGPT and others already are.

I really hope the Logos team keeps moving in that direction. It would be a massive improvement for the global user community.