Foursquare Adds Indonesian Language, But Lacks Accuracy

On its blog, Foursquare has announced that it has added Bahasa Indonesia and four other languages (Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Thai) to their BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android apps. With people in Indonesia being some of the world’s keenest social media users, Foursquare has pushed forward its effort to localize its service so that the users here can feel closer to it.

To use the Foursquare app in Bahasa Indonesia, simply get this weekend’s app update, and ensure your phone is set to your native language. Foursquare has also updated its website so that its supports the five new localizations; look for the option on the bottom left of the Foursquare.com homepage.

Foursquare's updated app for BlackBerry - now with Bahasa Indonesia support.

After seeing and using the updated app on BlackBerry – which features some visual refreshes as well – I saw more than a few mistakes in the Bahasa Indonesia translations. Even the website has assorted errors. I don’t know how the Foursquare localization team worked to adapt the service, but some of the words and phrases look a bit weird, as if they were translated using Google Translate.

I think that Foursquare should’ve used Twitter’s way to translate its app and website, because you really need fluency in the language to translate it properly, and to crowdsource it to local enthusiasts with some editorial experience is the best way. As we reported last month, Twitter’s Bahasa Indonesia translation was done really well, and its moderators are actively maintaining the localization and answering questions from people. What do you think about the Foursquare translation, and how can it be improved?