Twitter presents ’Arabic Feminine’,a new language setting on Twitter.com

 

 CAIRO - 15 June 2021: People across the world come to Twitter to discuss what’s happening, and Twitter wants its service to better reflect the many voices that shape the conversation. In some languages, such as with Arabic, words can be feminine or masculine. So Twitter is introducing a new language setting that acknowledges and better supports the Arabic feminine form.

 

People who select this setting will be addressed in the feminine form. For example, “Tweet” will be “غرّدي” (which addresses women) rather than the default Arabic today which is “غرّد” (addressing men). Also, “Explore” will be “إستكشفي” rather than “إستكشف”. 

 

Carla El Maalouli, Head of Business Marketing, Twitter MENA said: “At Twitter, every voice can impact the world, and the conversations that happen on our service are defined by the people having them. With this update, we’re hoping to provide Arabic-speaking women with an option to share their unique voice and participate in an inclusive conversation, while being addressed based on  their preferences. We have seen great support from the industry and have partnered with a number of organizations and individuals who are joining the conversation to champion this update.” 

 

Here’s how to use it:

Log in to Twitter.com, go to “Settings and privacy” and then “Accessibility, display, and languages”. Next select “Languages”, and go to “Display language”. 

 

 

 

Select “Arabic (feminine)” from the “Display language” drop down menu. The display language on Twitter.com will then address you in the feminine form.

 

 

 

Together with the update, Twitter launched a campaign titled #FeminineArabic أتحدث_بالمؤنث# to share its approach and partner with others to do so. The campaign features an emoji that is unlocked with the following English and Arabic hashtags: #FeminineArabic and أتحدث_بالمؤنث# . 

 

As a company, Twitter is committed to using inclusive language, regardless if it's written down, mentioned  on the site and apps, or embedded in Twitter’s code. Twitter knows there’s more work to be done to reflect the variety of voices around the world, and will continue to share its learnings and how it updates the service based on people’s feedback.