WhatsApp’s New Translation Feature Brings Global Fans Even Closer

In a recent update, WhatsApp announced that iOS and Android users can now translate incoming messages on their phones, without leaving the app. While it might sound like a subtle upgrade, this enhancement comes with far-reaching possibilities, especially for brands, artists, creators, and entertainers with global reach. 

The Meta-owned company wrote in the announcement “we understand that sometimes language can be a barrier to getting things done or expressing how you truly feel. That’s why we’re excited to bring message translations to WhatsApp, so you can more easily communicate across languages.”

For Community customers already using WhatsApp to connect with their audience worldwide, this is a welcome improvement because fans don’t all speak the same language, but they do share the same passion. While true connection knows no barriers, bridging the language gap just got a lot easier.

How WhatsApp Translation Fits With Community

Community already makes WhatsApp campaigns easy to run for multiple global brands, especially in the music and entertainment industries. WhatsApp’s addition of native translation further strengthens our purpose of enabling true connection around the world by expanding what’s possible for global fan engagement.

With this update, brands can now keep their message consistent and easily engage fans in their language of choice. That means less friction responding to fans in different countries and more authentic engagement in real time.

How to Translate WhatsApp Messages

Instead of copying the message from WhatsApp and pasting into a translation app, recipients can now simply long-press and tap ‘Translate,’ choose their preferred language, and save for future translations.

iPhone users can get translation in: 

• Arabic
• Dutch
• English
• French
• German
• Hindi
• Indonesian
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Mandarin Chinese
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish
• Thai
• Turkish
• Ukrainian
• Vietnamese 

For Android users, translation is initially supported in: 

• English
• Spanish
• Hindi
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Arabic
• More languages to be added over time
  
  

A Small Change With Big Impact

Localization capabilities have been a request from our global customers, and WhatsApp’s new translation capability is an important step toward making those interactions smoother and giving leaders one more way to ensure that every fan feels heard, no matter where they’re from or where they’re communicating to.