The tech world was yesterday mourning the loss of one of its most innovative and inspiring lights. I won’t name him as you all know who I’m talking about, and I think the man deserves a great deal more respect than to be used as opportunistic link-bait. However, the world continues to turn, and companies still have to make a profit. Somewhat quietly, which is understandable given yesterday’s news, a new Facebook tool made its first appearance.
It’s a relatively simple addition that detects comments made on Facebook in another language, and gives you the option of translating them to your native tongue in a single click. If you were reading a post on a fan page for example and the hit a comment written in Spanish, you will see a Translate button next to the Like button, which when clicked brings up a small pop-out window containing a translation powered by Microsoft Bing.
However, literal translations can often miss the point or intended emphasis of what is written, especially if the author is writing in shorthand or colloquial terms. But don’t worry, Facebook have thought of that too. If you are a bilingual user, you can enter a human translation into the pop-out window, and if enough other users vote positively on the accuracy of the human translation, then it can replace Bing’s automated offering.
According to Ampercent, if you’re a page administrator and want to enable this feature for your multi-lingual users, go to “Your Settings” and click “Allow translations from Admin, community and machine translators.”