Gmail for Web and Feature Phones Browsers Gets Support for 13 New Languages

Now, Google wants its most widely-used email service to be one with the most number of languages supported.

Google has added support for 13 new languages to Gmail, including Afrikaans, Armenian, Azerbaijani (Azeri), Chinese (Hong Kong), French (Canada), Galician, Georgian, Khmer, Lao, Mongolian, Nepali, Sinhala, and Zulu.

The 13 new languages have started rolling out beginning Monday for the Web version and feature phone browser. Google notes, "As any native speaker knows, each language has its own nuances, so we worked closely with linguists to make sure the tone and style are just right."

(Also see: Seven Extensions That Make Gmail Better)

Ian Hill, Senior Project Manager, Google Localization announced the news in a blog post and said, "Email 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. But there's still an important barrier we need to overcome to make email truly universal: language. Gmail is already available in 58 languages, and today we're bringing that total to 71 - covering 94 percent of the world's Internet population and bringing us closer to our goal of making sure that, no matter what language you write in, you can use it in Gmail."

(Also see: Are Indian Languages Ready to Replace English Online?)

In May, Google announced the updated version of its Gmail app for Android, added the save to Google Drive feature, improved RTL (right-to-left) language support, spam explanations and more.