Microsoft Teams Gets 8 Indian Languages on Mobile Devices; Desktop, Web Clients Add 'Strong' Hindi Support

Microsoft's localisation approach has been to use simple and popular Hindi words.

By Jagmeet Singh | Updated: 13 September 2019 18:21 IST

Microsoft Teams Gets 8 Indian Languages on Mobile Devices; Desktop, Web Clients Add 'Strong' Hindi Support

Microsoft Teams would be able to attract new Indian users through the latest development

Highlights

Microsoft Teams includes stickers in Hindi
There is also real-time inline translation support for Hindi users
Microsoft has offered a localised interface for Indian users

Microsoft Teams has now started supporting eight Indian languages, namely Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. The latest language support is available through the Microsoft Teams mobile app. However, the Redmond company is also touted to have added "strong" support for Hindi on both desktop and Web clients of Teams to attract Indian professionals. Users would additionally be able to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) powered inline translation to translate Teams chats between Hindi and international languages including English.

To make conversations engaging for non-English speakers in India, Microsoft Teams includes stickers in Hindi. There is also a localised Hindi interface to let Hindi-speaking users easily use Teams for their workspace communications. Further, Microsoft notes that its localisation approach has been to use simple and popular Hindi words instead of using any complex terminology and Sanskritised forms.

Using AI, Microsoft Teams provides real-time inline translation to chats where users can translate the text between Hindi and other languages. There is also Hindi support for the accessibility feature 'Immersive Reader' to let the app read out messages received in Hindi.

Specifically for mobile users, the Microsoft Teams app for Android and iOS brings a localised interface that supports all the newly added eight Indian languages. The display language on the app is determined by the default language of the mobile device. However, users can change the text input at any time -- without making any system-level changes.

"By extending Teams' support to eight Indian languages on mobile devices, Microsoft is aiming to benefit a large number of users including the first-line workers. The new developments will further strengthen Teams as the hub for teamwork that brings people together and fosters a culture of engagement and inclusion," the company said in a press note.

Back in July, Microsoft revealed that Teams surpassed the mark of 13 million daily active users. The app already included support for 52 languages across 181 markets to counter arch-rival Slack that has more than 10 million daily active users -- as of January this year.

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