After long a due YouTube the world’s leading video service has added Arabic to it’s 36 list of languages to give it’s users a more relevant experience, but not a usable one for that.
As an avid YouTube fan myself, I find the interface anything but acceptable for the 3rd most visited website which happens to be owned by Google.
For me the bugs start with the most basic functionality which is: Playing a Video. The interface launched for Arabs fails to play in a direction relevant most to Arabic speaking users, which is Right-to-Left. Coincidently some of the region’s own video platforms such as Ikbis has the same downfall which we hope will be reversed some day soon.
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We tried out the new interface which we hope has been released for testing, and were surprised by it’s lack of functionality in it’s Arabic interface such as the small ‘Remove Module’ button appearing on the wrong video icon, or the displaced ‘Add to’ video dropdown menu.
The addition of an Arabic interface coincides with an additional six other languages such as Lithuanian, Slovenian, and Vietnamese this month.
You can check them out by scrolling to the end of the interface and click on the ‘Language’ link as shown below:
The feature first noticed by Arabic tech blog ArabCrunch really puts Google’s priorities into perspective. It also highlights the emerging of a global competition for the region’s surfers that local startups like Ikbis and Zoofs will definitely be put to the test by.
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