Twitter has brought Bing Translate to its website and iOS app

Just in time for the global and multilingual World Cup, Twitter has broadened its use of Microsoft’s Bing translation services to iPhones and iPads. The company’s app for Apple’s mobile devices has now begun showing an option to show a translated version of tweets below the native-language version. As with Twitter’s Android app translation test, which CNET first reported in May, the translation doesn’t show in the stream of tweets shown in the app’s timeline, but does when you tap on an individual tweet. But another Twitter change indicates that limit could be lifted. Twitter already showed a translation option for individual tweets seen through its Twitter.com Web interface, but now it’s expanded that to show the translations in the timeline as well. Since it’s more common to see the tweets in the timeline, Twitter’s change means many more people are likely to notice and use the translation service. The changes could increase Twitter’s already considerable utility and influence as a global communications medium. People use Twitter not just to find about about sporting events in Brazil, but also political protests in Turkey, elections in Europe, and civil war in Syria. On Twitter.com, the translation option doesn’t show unless a person hovers a computer’s mouse pointer over the tweet in question, aside from a small gray globe icon that indicates the translation is available. Once the words “View translation” are clicked, Twitter adds the translated version beneath a phrase such as, “Translated from Japanese by Bing.”