Gmail Chat in Arabic gets users talking

For the first time, the popular webmail service provides the ability to send instant messages in Arabic with the introduction of Gmail chat.

Instead of composing a formal email to a friend or colleague and waiting for a reply, you can now use chat to get a rapid response to quick queries. Gmail chat lets users see when their friends are online and get in touch however they want and just like email messages, chat sessions are searchable by you. Some of the features included are as follows:

- Gmail chat is integrated with your email so you can access it easily from the same screen as your Gmail inbox.

- Chat is in fully bi-directional (left-to-right and right-to-left) format, making it easier than ever to converse with family, friends, and colleagues in your own language.

- Customise your status so friends and colleagues can see what you're doing or where you are. If you don't want to be disturbed, you can make your chat status 'invisible' or 'busy'.

- Use the Group chat option to converse with a number of friends at the same time, in the same window.

- Chat off-the-record if you want to keep conversations with other Gmail users from being archived in your inbox or your friend's inbox.

- Enjoy new emoticons that allow you to add smiley faces and other expressions to your conversations

In addition to the introduction of chat, users will see some other changes to Gmail from today. We understand that Arabic language speakers may need to use Gmail in other language settings (such as English, French or Spanish) so we've made it easier for them to switch between languages. For example, if your email thread starts in English but you want to reply in Arabic, that's now no problem. This was one of the top requested features from our Gmail users.

"We've been working hard to increase the functionality of the Arabic version of Gmail so that people can get more out of their email,"

said a local spokesperson at Google.

"We think chat is a feature people will really like as it provides another, more rapid, option for communication with others. On top of this, we've made some other changes to Gmail that means it will be quicker to open, read, label and archive messages. We hope our users in the Middle East will find their Gmail experience better than ever as a result of these improvements."

For individuals who need help with managing incoming emails, Google has added coloured labels. With this feature, you can use colour to better organise and highlight emails from certain people or groups in order to find where you have filed a certain email that's important.