Brands doing business in foreign countries or with customers who write in different languages have a new tool at their disposal: Google has added a native translation integration within the Gmail mobile app.  

To translate messages on mobile, users simply have to select “Translate” and choose the preferred language.  

This apparently would be used for incoming customer communications, not for outgoing email blasts.  

The main requirement would be trusting Google’s translation platform.  

Google describes the process as follows:

“A new dismissible banner appears when the content language of a message is different from the “Google.com Mail display language” in your account settings.”  

Google adds: “You can also choose to have Gmail always translate or never translate specific languages.”  

Again, such a service is not likely to be useful in email marketing campaigns. Marketers have long been advised to “think globally, act locally,” and Google’s translation may or may not catch all local nuances. 

That’s equally true if the recipient chooses to translate an incoming campaign email. 

However, brands will be able to translate incoming messages from consumers who write in a language other than English — a time-saving device. 

Google notes that for years, it has allowed users to “translate emails in Gmail on the web to over 100 languages.”