Twitter announced this afternoon that it is adding its seventh language to its arsenal – Korean. According to the blog post (which is entirely in Korean, but which Twitter provided to us separately in English), South Korea has been one of the fastest growing regions for the microblogging company.
“As of today, Twitter will be even easier for Koreans to use,” writes the company. “Among other updates, Twitter.com and Twitter’s mobile web site are now translated into Korean.”
According to Twitter, there are 10 times as many Twitter users in South Korea than there were a year ago. Twitter was already available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and now Korean will be added to that list. Twitter notes that 70% of accounts belong to users outside the U.S. and that “it’s important for us to make Twitter available in as many languages as possible, and we hope to support even more by the end of this year.”
Twitter’s announcement is entirely in Korean and Google Translate comes up with general gobbledygook, so here’s the post in its entirety:
Twitter use is growing in all corners of the world. In the last year, one of the fastest growing countries for Twitter is South Korea. There are now ten times as many Twitter users there than there were just a year ago.
As of today, Twitter will be even easier for Koreans to use. Among other updates, Twitter.com and Twitter’s mobile web site are now translated into Korean.
By making Twitter available in Korean, people will be able to more easily connect with people and accounts that are most meaningful to them. There are plenty of great Korean users to follow already, including:
- @oisoo posts witty Tweets, some of which were published in a best-selling essay last year.
- @moviejhp shares insight on his life as a movie actor.
- You can find comedian and TV show host @keumkangkyung and TV anchor @kimjuha on Twitter.
- Super Junior band members: @donghae861015, @heedictator, @siwon407, @shinsfriends, @special1004, @allrisesilver, and @ryeong9 are on Twitter.
If you want more ideas for Korean accounts to follow in politics, business, technology, sports and other areas, check out these lists, organized by topic. (Make sure your language is set to Korean to see Korean accounts.)
Twitter has also updated the popular Korean versions of Twitter for Android and Twitter for iPhone. And, we want to thank our partner Daumfor displaying top Korean Tweets on their homepage and making it easy to find friends from your Hanmail address book; and LG U+ for working with us to make Twitter available via SMS in Korean for their subscribers (shortcode is #1234).
If you already have a Twitter account, you can change your language to Korean by going to the Settings page, which you can find under the dropdown menu in the top right corner of Twitter.com. To keep up with the latest information about Twitter in Korea, you can follow @twitter_kr for updates from Twitter HQ, @dowoomi for Twitter support, and @toptweets_ko for top Tweets from Korean users. To share your feedback on Twitter in Korean, you can include #twitterkr in your tweets.
With this launch, Twitter is now available in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Korean. With 70% of Twitter accounts belonging to users outside the U.S., it’s important for us to make Twitter available in as many languages as possible, and we hope to support even more by the end of this year.
