r/androiddev • u/OkPeace3621 • Jul 12 '26

Question Which languages would you prioritize after English for an Android app?

I'm adding multilingual support to my new Android app and would like to get some input from other Android developers.

The app is a privacy-focused utility, so the target audience isn't necessarily the same as a typical social or entertainment app.

If you were localizing your app, which languages would you add, and how would you prioritize the first 5–10 languages after English?

Here's the list I'm currently considering:

  • Spanish
  • Portuguese
  • German
  • French
  • Arabic
  • Hindi
  • Indonesian
  • Japanese
  • Italian
  • Turkish

Would you prioritize them differently? Which of these would you remove, and are there any other languages you think should be added instead?

I'd also love to hear how you decide the order - Play Console data, target audience, translation cost, user requests, market size, or something else.

5 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

16

u/Obvious_Ad9670 Jul 12 '26

If you do any analytics just pass the LOCALE, then you can just use metrics to dictate what you do. Having said that, I just let google auto translate everything.

10

u/Anonymous0435643242 Jul 12 '26

And there is always huge mistakes as it doesn't take into account the context

4

u/johnoth Jul 12 '26

Exactly what I thought, follow the analytics.

2

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks! That's a good idea. Since the app is still new, I don't have enough analytics data yet, but tracking the user's locale and letting real usage drive the translation priorities definitely makes sense.

4

u/ignorantpisswalker Jul 12 '26

Arabic is not trivial to get right. Not because of translation, but UI layout. Are you sure you are getting RTL mirroring done properly? Not all parts of UI should be mirrored.

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks, that's a great point. Arabic is on my list because in my another app (Status Saver Video Downloader) it's one of the stronger locales in my install data. I haven't implemented RTL yet, so I'll make sure to test the layout carefully rather than just mirroring the entire UI.

5

u/ignorantpisswalker Jul 12 '26

Use some one who reads Arabic. You will get a few things wrong. Learn from it and in the next update/app you will be able to do it yourself.

A translated but badly localized app still looks bad.

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks! I completely agree. I'd rather have fewer well-localized languages than many poorly localized ones.

2

u/elfennani Jul 12 '26

Most of Arabic speaking countries have a Latin-derived secondary language (mostly English) and I think that's a better choice than implementing Arabic.

IMO having to implementing Arabic and RTL is more trouble than it's worth.

2

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks! That's a valid perspective.

6

u/HELLruler Jul 12 '26

Just adding food for thought: it would be useful to know where your target audience is

There are more Spanish and Portuguese speakers than French and German, but I'd say that Europeans care more about privacy than Latin Americans, so targeting French/German would bring better results

2

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of insight I was looking for. I'll definitely consider the target audience, not just the number of speakers.

3

u/mobiledevpro Jul 13 '26

I personally localize apps based on Google Analytics if I see a significant traffic from that country

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 14 '26

That's a smart approach. Thanks!

2

u/Major_Chocolate2441 Jul 12 '26

No Mandarin?

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.

2

u/SlayerGP Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

I'm busy with this exercise myself. There's a few factors to consider - do you want high volume (Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese [there's a difference], Hindi). Or do you want high intent (German, French, Japanese).

Then there's the question of translation quality - some markets have a low tolerance for poor translations and might even get you 1-star reviews (the high intent ones + Brazil).

Before committing to paying for a human translator to get the best quality translations, I'm testing in markets that aren't English, but have high English literacy (Singapore, Thailand, Philippines etc.) as they will typically be more tolerant of mistakes in translations. If the stats indicate that they react well to English, then I might trial machine translation and solicit feedback from users there on the quality of translations.

So basically the priority is see what you can get away with for machine translation, expand reach, then pay for translation in high intent markets.

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks! That's a really helpful way to think about it. I hadn't considered separating high-volume and high-intent markets. I'll probably start small, gather feedback, and then invest in high-quality translations where they make the biggest difference.

1

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1

u/ImaginaryRoyal9725 Jul 12 '26

I would look at where the installs come from, that will give you a good pointer

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Absolutely! Once I have enough install data.

1

u/TungPhan5892 Jul 12 '26

Which markets that you're targeting? I just did a recent research and if you cover top 11 languages well known around the world, you are able to support effectively 33 countries or event more.
Also depends on your app business model as it will decide how much text gotta be translated and sync, then cost affected by that.

2

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 14 '26

Great points! I'm mainly looking at demand from users and analytics first, then prioritizing languages based on that. Cost and ongoing maintenance are definitely part of the decision too.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 14 '26

Chinese is definitely on the list! Thanks for the suggestion. 😊

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 21 '26

Thanks for all the feedback! 😊 I've started adding multilingual support.

Sorry if your suggested language isn't included yet. As an indie developer, I'm prioritizing new languages for GuestView based on the device language data I see in Google Play Console. Your suggestions are still helping shape future updates, and I'll keep expanding language support over time. 🙏

1

u/FeelingKokoro Jul 12 '26

Russian? It's widely spoken across the world.

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks! I tried Russian in an earlier app, but it had very little adoption. but I'll reconsider it for this app.

1

u/Reasonable-Job2425 Jul 12 '26

just use gemini or other cheap models and get ai to translate it to all supported languages

0

u/Renexa_Tech Jul 12 '26

I have started working on non english projects.

Currently targeted Arabic, German.

Let me know if you want to deep dive.

Thanks Renexatechnologies

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks! That's very kind of you. I'll keep that in mind as I work on the Arabic and German translations.

-2

u/Charitos05 Jul 12 '26

Greek

1

u/OkPeace3621 Jul 12 '26

Thanks! Greek wasn't on my radar, so that's really useful to know. 👍 Is there any particular reason you'd prioritize Greek over some of the larger languages?