Support Arabic language

[altuwaijri]

During our preparations, we have identified a significant challenge that requires your valuable assistance. Currently, the platform lacks Arabic translation, which hinders our ability to effectively reach a wider audience and make a meaningful impact on the health awareness initiative.

In order to address this issue, we kindly request your support in incorporating Arabic language support for our app on Strava. By doing so, we can expand our reach to Arabic-speaking individuals and communities, enabling them to access and benefit from our health awareness initiative. This collaboration will not only benefit our organization but also contribute to the overall growth and inclusivity of Strava as a global platform.

Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, and its inclusion on Strava would undoubtedly enhance the platform's global accessibility. Here are some key statistics about Arabic speakers globally:

1. Total Arabic Speakers: Arabic is spoken by approximately 422 million people as their first language worldwide. It is the fifth most spoken language in the world.

2. Arab World Population: The Arab world, which consists of 22 countries, has an estimated population of over 420 million people. These individuals primarily communicate in Arabic.

3. Official Language: Arabic is the official language in 26 countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Morocco. It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

4. Muslim Population: Arabic holds significant religious importance as it is the language of the Quran. It is widely used by Muslims for religious rituals and worship. The Muslim population globally is approximately 1.8 billion, with a significant proportion being Arabic speakers.

5. Digital Landscape: The Arabic-speaking population is increasingly active in the digital space. Incorporating Arabic language support on Strava would tap into this growing demographic and provide them with the opportunity to engage with the platform's health and fitness features.

By providing Arabic translation for our app on Strava, we can bridge the language barrier, engage with Arabic speakers, and create a more inclusive and impactful health awareness initiative. Your support in this endeavor will enable us to reach a broader audience and make a positive difference in the lives of Arabic-speaking individuals worldwide.

Thank you.

[Bryant]

​​Thanks for submitting your idea. It has been reviewed by our moderation team and is now open to voting.

[Hermux]

I don’t understand the Strava policy on supported languages. While some minoritarian languages are welcome and supported (e.g. Portuguese (Portugal), with 11M speakers, or Dutch, with 19M), others are plainly ignored even though they have a much larger community of speakers. The most flagrant case is Arabic, with over 300M native speakers, but others like Korean, Ukrainian or Polish are well above 30M and still ignored.

In today’s world, adding a new translation is not a difficult task: machine and community translation are freely available, and many (local) governments are willing to help with official translations too.

Omitting support to a language is a statement on its own, especially when this language is minoritized by another one which is supported (think of Ukrainian). Answering that you have no resources to do it sounds like a poor and sad excuse.