Facebook launches Messenger translations in Filipino

MANILA, Philippines — Facebook Messenger users will now be able to translate conversations to Filipino.

The social media company yesterday announced that Filipino will be one of the five languages that may be translated on Messenger, along with English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Facebook said the system, called M Translations, is available to people using Messenger in the United States, Mexico, France, Spain, Brazil and the Philippines.

“Message translations are automated using Facebook’s own translation engine based on neural machine translation technology, the same technology that translates posts and comments on Facebook and Instagram,” the company said.

“Translations are a meaningful milestone for M Suggestions and will enable people to connect with people they would not be able to seamlessly communicate with otherwise,” it added.

With the update, users who receive a message in a language that is different from their default language in Messenger will receive an option to translate the message in their preferred supported language.

“If you say yes, M will then offer to auto-translate all future foreign-language messages in that conversation. Auto-translations are enabled on a per-conversation basis and you can opt-out of auto-translation at any time,” Facebook said. 

Facebook launched M Translations for Marketplace conversations in the US and Mexico in May.

It said the translations would enable entrepreneurs using Messenger to connect and reach people around the world.