LinkedIn is now available in Hindi, the first Indian regional language on the professional networking platform. Announcing the launch on Thursday, the Microsoft-owned platform said it aims to support 600 million Hindi speakers globally.
Together with Hindi, LinkedIn is now available in 25 languages globally. Starting today, in the phase 1 rollout of LinkedIn in Hindi, members can access their feed, profile, jobs, messaging, and create content in Hindi on desktop, and on Android and iOS phones.
The platform says it will widen the range of job opportunities available for Hindi-speaking professionals across industries, including banking and government jobs. It will also continue to add more Hindi publishers and creators in the coming weeks to boost engagement and conversations in Hindi, it said.
Twitter bans publishing media of private individuals without their permission
“India is a core market for growth at LinkedIn and the second largest market in terms of members, after the US,” LinkedIn said in an official release. India accounts for 82 million of its 800 million members globally, it said.
India’s member base grew by over 20 million in the past three years, it said, marking a 15 per cent year-over-year growth. It has witnessed a spike in engagement and conversations since the pandemic.
“In India, LinkedIn has been mission critical to helping people connect, learn, grow and get hired during the pandemic and in this new world of work we are in. With the launch of Hindi, now more members and customers can unlock greater value from the platform through content, jobs, and networking, and express themselves in a language that they feel comfortable in,” said Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager, LinkedIn.
“We have witnessed high engagement and member growth in the last year, and it is at this exciting inflection point that we are strengthening our vision to create economic opportunity for ‘every’ member of the workforce, and taking down language barriers for Hindi speakers across the world,” added Gupta.
How it works
In order to access the platform in Hindi, smartphone users will need to select Hindi as their preferred device language under phone settings.
For members who already use Hindi as their preferred language on their devices, the LinkedIn experience will automatically be available in Hindi. On desktop, click the ‘Me’ icon at the top of the LinkedIn homepage and select ‘Settings and Privacy’.
Then click ‘Account Preferences’ on the left, select ‘Site Preferences’, click ‘Change’ next to ‘Language’, and select ‘Hindi’ from the drop-down list.
Spotify announces Spotify 2021 Wrapped with new features, experiences and insights
Once selected, the user interface and platform experience, including the navigation bar, will be displayed in Hindi.
User-generated content, such as the posts on a member’s home feed, will be displayed in the language they were created in.
However, for members whose primary language selection is Hindi, clicking the ‘See Translation’ option will display Hindi translations of the respective posts.
“If members are not already using a Hindi keyboard, to create Hindi content on LinkedIn they will need to switch their keyboard input language to Hindi, or add the Hindi keyboard on their desktop or smartphone,” it explained.
With the launch of the Hindi option, new LinkedIn members can sign up for LinkedIn in Hindi by visiting the LinkedIn website and registering for a new account.
Members whose existing profiles are in English can add a second language profile in Hindi. This capability is currently only available on Desktop.
To create a second language profile, users will need to click the “Me” icon, followed by “View Profile”, and then “Add profile in another language.”
“To display their existing profile in Hindi, members will need to create a secondary language profile in the same language as their existing profile,” it explained.
This will prompt them to choose a preferred language for their existing profile from a drop-down list of 25 languages, which now includes Hindi.
“The launch of LinkedIn in Hindi saw LinkedIn influencers such as international life coach Gaur Gopal Das, monk-turned-entrepreneur Dr Vivek Bindra, and nearbuy.com founder Ankur Warikoo share their first Hindi posts on their LinkedIn profiles,” LinkedIn further said.
The platform will evaluate feedback from members to improve the experience over the next few months.
