Google Knows 40 Languages

In 2008, Google has focused, more than ever, on making its web properties' content available for as many people as possible, no matter their mother tongue. "A huge part of that goal is making our services available in as many languages as possible. And as I’m sure you can imagine, that isn't as easy as simply as translating a few lines of text," says Mario Queiroz, Vice President, Product Management of Google Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

The team from Google did not only have to focus on some translating tools, as some languages require somewhat of a special treatment. Queiroz gives the example of the languages that are written from right to left, as the numbers remain on the generally acknowledged track. Some applications have to be totally redesigned in order to meet the expectations of users from the Arabic countries or Israel, like it happened to the Gmail version for these countries.

The "Google into Your Language" program, which started in 2001 and is voluntary based, did not prove to be 100% efficient, as some languages are still totally unknown to the giant’s developers and many people don't have the possibility of choosing their own language to support the applications provided by the company. Yet, over 1.500 versions of Google's programs are now available in different languages.

Now, over 98% of the Internet users can say that Google knows, at least partially, their idioms. Unicode 5.1 was adopted as soon as it was released, allowing users who don't speak Latin alphabet based languages to conduct searches and be offered satisfactory results.

All these add up value to Google's patrimony, but the company has to come up with something truly outstanding to calm down the rumors that talk about a low pitch of the business. The reason for the mistrust is the company's second quarter earning report, which didn't show very good stats.

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