Facebook Releases Persian Version

Almost at the same time as Google added support for the Persian language in its Google Translate service, Facebook also launched a version of its site in Persian. The social networking website was already working on Persian language support, but decided to step up its efforts and release it sooner than previously planed.

“Since the Iranian election last week, people around the world have increasingly been sharing news and information on Facebook about the results and its aftermath. Much of the content created and shared has been in Persian—the native language of Iran—but people have had to navigate the site in English or other languages,” Eric Kwan says on the Facebook blog. “Today, we're making the entire site available in a beta version of Persian, so Persian speakers inside of Iran and around the world can begin using it in their native language.”

The company warns, though, that, because the release was rushed, the team of volunteers working on Persian support haven't gone through a thorough check of all the pages, so the translation has to be considered a draft version. Facebook also thanks the 400 or so volunteers that have helped with the translation by submitting “thousands of individual translations of the site.”

The Iranian protests have seen heavy exposure and one of the recurring themes was the “Twitter Revolution,” hailing the micro-blogging service as instrumental in spreading the news from the country while traditional media outlets usually lagged behind. Other services like YouTube or Flickr also played a big role by showing videos or photos of the violences, arguably a much better way to get a clear view of what was happening on the ground than Twitter. However, Facebook may have played an even more important part before the elections, as opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi managed to gather more than 40,000 fans in just a few weeks and used the social network to rally support, especially from the younger demographics.