Public Domain Image - Facebook started testing a new translation tool that will automatically display a post in different languages
- The translation tool called “multilingual composer” will make it easier for users to interact with their diverse audiences
- Facebook is aiming to remove language barriers across the social network
Facebook, the California-based giant online social networking service, wants to make it easier for its over 1 billion users to effectively communicate with international audience even if they speak no other language than their own.
Channel News Asia mentioned in an article dated July 2, 2016 that according to Facebook, only half of its more than 1.5 billion users worldwide speak English. The other half speaks in many other languages, effectively barring them from communicating with English speakers and from speakers of other languages they cannot understand.
To solve that, Facebook is now testing new software that will automatically translate a post into several different languages. Once a user publishes his or her post, Facebook will display it to other users in their preferred language.
According to Richard Nieva of CNET, the “multilingual composer” tool works this way: “Type up a post, click on a pull-down menu, and you can add up to 45 different language translations, ranging from French to Filipino to Lithuanian.”
Facebook said the translation tool has been made available earlier this year to a small group of users of Facebook Pages, which are specifically for companies, brands, groups and celebrities.
And now it will be made available to general users.
“Page authors and other people on Facebook can compose a single post in multiple languages, and the viewers who speak one of those languages will see the post in their preferred language only – allowing people to more easily interact with their diverse audiences,” the social networking company said.
The company said it aims to remove language barriers across the social network.
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