Path announced on its blog today that it has added seven new languages to its localization options.The social network that limits connections to no more than 150 friends understands that internationalizing its app may assist with adoption in markets with non-English speakers and therefore has added Dutch, Norwegian, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, Malay, and UK English. These additions mean Path is now available in 16 languages, including Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, French, Swedish, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Back in April Path sought out assistance from all around the world to make its app more international and from the list of countries it laid out, it still has four more languages that are yet to be ready to roll out at this point. Those languages are Arabic, Russian, Turkish, and Norwegian Bokmål. To use Path in a different language, you will need to set your device to your desired language. The setting is not from within the Path app.
Path has been a relatively popular network, gaining three million users since it was relaunched back in December last year and as The Next Web noted in March, despite having fewer users than other markets, Asia has been Path’s fastest growing region. The addition of Traditional Chinese, Thai, Malay, and Indonesian will only help to spur further adoption in Asia.
The funny thing about Path users in Indonesia though, many who love the service like it better than Facebook but with one caveat. Most of the complaint has been the limitation on the number of friends one can have on Path.
Filmmaker and actress Nazyra C. Noer said that she had to “sacrifice” a friend to admit another friend into her list. Dolly Surya Wisaka, another frequent Path user, has left dozens of his friends on the waiting list because his Path quota was full. Abul A’la Almaujudy, co-founder of Better-B, a mobile apps company, went so far as adding “FULL” to his name on Path so his friends won’t request to connect on the social network. A practice that is somehow reminiscent of the old habits people picked up on Friendster all those years ago when they hit the 500 friend limit.
Raya Fahreza, who is also a filmmaker, really loves using Path. “Seems the makers know that people will like a mobile-based, simple, more personal, social yet limited, room. In a world where people go for quantity in sharing, Path reminds us of quality even more than Twitter. I see Path more like that secluded corner in the cafetaria where we hang out with close peers only. It’s not a fancy hangout where people go to see and be seen, but it’s your own little place”.
You can view screenshots of Path in Indonesian on our Tumblr.