Popular social audio chat app Clubhouse introduced support for local languages as it was one of the highest requested features from all regions, including India, a top company executive has said. Aiming to take on its growing rivals in the space, the social audio chat app has added support for five Indian languages that include Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.
"As we roll-out the first wave of local language support on Clubhouse, we’re very happy share that creators and users all across the world can take advantage of 13 new languages, out of which 5 are major Indian languages - which no other platform offers. This update was one of the most requested features globally, and we’re just getting started. just the first step. We’ll be rolling out more languages and support on iOS soon," Aarthi Ramamurthy, Head of International at Clubhouse, told ABP Live.
The app also added support for languages like French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian) and Spanish. Initially limited to iOS only, the audio-only app aims to make the platform more accessible for users across in India and other markets and that is another reason why it added support for five Indian languages.
"Everyday, people from across the world, including in India, continue to join Clubhouse to create and share unique moments that they simply cannot find anywhere else. The entire app experience, such as prompts, notifications, descriptions, topics and more will be in the user’s local language and will make Clubhouse more accessible to billions more people around the world," Ramamurthy added.
"We've always said we’re building Clubhouse for everyone, and that means creating a space where everyone can experience the app in a way that feels native to them," the top company executive noted.
The audio-only app debuted in March 2020 and Clubhouse for Android was launched in India in May this year. The additonal launguages added are currently for Android and a roll out for iOS devices is expected soon and the move is being seen as a big step towards the Andreessen Horowitz-backed company's localisation efforts.
"Our strategy has always been to focus on the community and continue to build a great product experience so that our users can do what they do best - host interesting conversations wherever they are, so that people listening to the conversations are able to learn, find value and feel better -not worse when they leave the app," Ramamurthy explained.
Taking a cue from Clubhouse, Facebook and Twitter also launched similar audio-only rooms where users could come together and discuss various topics and interests. Content in local languages is taking off like never before, thanks to deeper internet and smartphone penetration. Of late, social media behemoths like Google, Facebook and Twitter have also localised their products, in an attempt to widen their base in India.