At the moment it is possible to change the user interface language with the URL parameter setlang in a GET request. GET should be a safe method which should not change the state of the server.[1]
Bug 49299 gets WONTFIXed by comment 1: "Given that the user will get a popup to switch back easily, and that changing the language (afaict) is just an annoyance for the user, I'm not convinced."[2]
A possibility to switch back does not make this behavior to a safe method.
I suggest to drop the URL parameter setlang completely and suggest two alternatives:
- Change the user interface language via API and open the page without parameter in the desired language. Described in bug 44649 and implemented in https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/110360 for mw.uls.changeLanguage().
The language can still changed with a single click and the new page has no troublesome URL parameter.
- On situations where no API call is possible use uselang instead of setlang and implement a popup to easily keep this language instead of the popup to switch back easily. The user has explicitly to confirm the change of the user setting by a single click. This is important because the link can come from a foreign page.
For a transition time the parameter setlang can have the same behavior as the parameter uselang.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol#Safe_methods
[2] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49299#c1