Twitter Now Supports Correct Arabic Feminine Form

Professional translators don’t have it easy because various languages don’t just use different words to express the same notions — they also sometimes work completely differently. In Arabic (as well as several other languages), grammatical structures change depending on the gender of the subject.

Now imagine you’re a translator, and your job is to translate the word “Tweet” into Arabic. Do you choose the masculine form or the feminine form? When Twitter first added support for the language, it went with the former option. Now, the social network has also added support for the latter.

“We’re adding this language support to Twitter.com and working to bring it to Twitter for iOS and Android as well. We’re committed to using inclusive language at Twitter, regardless if it’s written down, shown on our site and apps, or embedded in our code,” write Carla El Maalouli, Head of Business Marketing at Twitter MENA, and Fabien Ho Ching Ma, Twitter Software Engineer.

The steps to switch from the default masculine form to the feminine form are very simple:

How To Switch To Twitter’s Arabic Feminine Form

1. Log in to Twitter.com.
2. Go to Settings and privacy.
3. Navigate to Accessibility, display, and languages.
4. Select Languages and Display language.
5. Pick the Arabic (feminine) option from the Display language menu.

Twitter will then address you using the feminine form. If you still see the masculine form, log out and log in again.

Also Read: Twitter Verification Badge Is Now Available To The Public

Alongside the support for the feminine form, Twitter is also launching a campaign titled #FeminineArabic أتحدث_بالمؤنث# to encourage other tech companies to follow suit.

“We know there’s more work to be done for our service to reflect the variety of voices around the world, and we’ll continue to share what we learn and how we update Twitter based on your feedback,” states the official press release.