Google's popular e-mail service - Gmail - has added 13 new languages to those that can be used to craft mails - including Afrikaans and Zulu.
Ian Hill, senior project manager of Google Localisation, writes in a blog post that the addition of the 13 new languages takes Gmail to 94% of the population as it now includes 58 languages. He says this takes Google "closer to our goal of making sure that, no matter what language you write in, you can use it in Gmail".
The 13 new languages joining the Gmail family are: Afrikaans, Armenian, Azerbaijani (Azeri), Chinese (Hong Kong), French (Canada), Galician, Georgian, Khmer, Lao, Mongolian, Nepali, Sinhala, and Zulu.
Gmail, which has been around for more than a decade, has more than 400 million users. "E-mail is a universal way to communicate. No matter where you are, you can reach anyone else in the world with the press of a button.
"We take it for granted now, but it's so much easier to keep in touch with people than it was in the old days of pens, paper, and stamps," says Hill. He notes, however, that the language barrier still needs to be overcome.
The Google team worked closely with linguists to make sure the tone and style are just right, says Hill. Users can try out any of the new languages by going to settings. "It's much easier than finding the right postage," adds Hill.
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