Facebook Adds “Translate” Button

Although an estimated 2.7 million Facebook users in the U.S. speak Spanish, and 1.6 million use the site en español, not all of the millions and millions of friends of those Spanish speakers understand the language. But Facebook is readying a cure in the form of a “Translate” button. [Click on the image for a larger version]

Case in point: While I was living in South America, my best friend in the U.S. who is fluent in Tagalog and English, once posted this comment on my Facebook profile: “I wish I could understand all the Spanish on your page lol.”  While she kept track of me through my posted pictures and new friends commenting on my personal page, she often felt slightly frustrated not knowing exactly was going on or what all the “jajajajajas” were about.

This problem may soon be eliminated as the social networking giant has begun to test a new button on certain pages that will allow users to translate comments.  Though still in it’s earliest stages, Inside Facebook reports:

In tests that we and others are now seeing on some parts of the site (only on Pages, at this point), comments in languages other than your account’s current one now include “Translate” button next to them. If you click on the button, the comment is automatically translated to your account language. The Translate button is then replaced by “Original,” which if clicked will untranslate the comment.

Just imagine the linguistic possibilities.  For people with friends in different places around the globe, this tool could open up a new world of dialog between users.   Meaning even if you do speak Spanish and can’t understand this: It will provide some sort of rough translation such as, “And for when the baby? You know, there has to be a party to celebrate,” so that you’ll be one of the first to know when your friend in Chile is pregnant.

Again, it’s still being tested, so there are a lot of details to be worked out, such that slang varies widely within one language from country to country so the translation is not going to be perfect or available all the time.   But it’s still cool to think about how one little button can help bring a lot more people around the world closer to understanding each other.