We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Asian characters showing up on Google searches.

more options

Enclosing a screen shot. When I do a search Foxfire goes to Google and the results often show up with lots of Chinese or Japanese characters. This is annoying - how do I get rid of this?

Enclosing a screen shot. When I do a search Foxfire goes to Google and the results often show up with lots of Chinese or Japanese characters. This is annoying - how do I get rid of this?

Chosen solution

Thanks for reporting back, and sorry I didn't think to mention that earlier. I first switched from English to Japanese, so of course I already knew what the buttons said.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (8)

more options

Unfortunately, your screenshot didn't upload successfully. Could you attach it to a reply? https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1255823#question-reply

more options

You can check for sandbox security issues when Firefox has a problem to access fonts installed locally.

You can set this pref to 2 or 1 on the about:config page to reduce the sandbox security level.

  • security.sandbox.content.level = 1
  • close and restart Firefox to make the change effective.

If '1' still doesn't have effect then try '0' to disable the sandbox.

If this didn't work then undo/reverse the change and reset the pref via the right-click context menu to the default value.

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

See also:

more options

Ok, will try again. It's a PNG file from my Mac desktop. When I click on the desktop icon it opens in Preview...if that helps. Also, the Asian characters don't seem to appear in all websites , just some.

more options

Actually, I think that's Japanese.

Could you check your Langage preference for Google search results here:

https://www.google.com/preferences#languages

more options

Thanks for responding again. I am uploading a second prn file showing the screen I get when I click on the link you suggested. I can change the radio button to English, but every time I close the window, go back to Foxfire and do another Google search, then then check preferences again the radio button has reverted back to the Japanese. Further thoughts?

more options

I assume you clicked the blue button that is equivalent to "Save". That should set a cookie that is applied on every subsequent Google visit until the cookie is cleared.

I suppose it could be overridden by a link that tells Google you want results in Japanese, such as

https://www.google.com/search?q=firefox&hl=ja

If you start a fresh search from Firefox's address bar or the new tab page search box, does your results page URL include that (amongst many other parameters)?

more options

PROBLEM SOLVED - THANK YOU SO MUCH! I didn't realize the blue button was a "Save" button because it was in Japanese too. Tried the same search I've been using as a test and...no Japanese anywhere! Problem probably arose from a Japanese visitor who I think used this computer a few times.

THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP!
more options

Chosen Solution

Thanks for reporting back, and sorry I didn't think to mention that earlier. I first switched from English to Japanese, so of course I already knew what the buttons said.