Twitter adds ‘Arabic (feminine)’ language option in diversity drive

Twitter adds ‘Arabic (feminine)’ language option in diversity drive

Twitter on Tuesday introduced an "Arabic (feminine)“ language setting enabling the social media site to speak to users using feminine grammar, part of what it said was an inclusion and diversity drive.

"We want our service to reflect the voices that shape the conversations that take place on our service,“ said Rasha Fawakhiri, Twitter's communications head for the Middle East and North Africa.

In Arabic, verbs agree with the gender of their subject. Masculine forms are used to address mixed or unknown audiences and are the default in most texts.

Twitter did not introduce a non-binary gender language option in Arabic, but Fawakhiri said the company has other gender neutral projects in the works for the site. It has plans to add a designated gender pronoun field to Twitter profiles so people can display how they prefer to be addressed.