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    Gmail now automatically translates foreign language emails, among other tweaks

    Gmail now automatically translates foreign language emails, among other tweaks

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    Automatic Message Translation has been promoted from Labs status, and is now offering to use Google Translate to give you emails in your native language.

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    Gmail translation comic
    Gmail translation comic

    Heavy Google users out there are likely very familiar with how new features get added to the company's services: employees create "Labs" that are available at first in beta, and then the most popular ones get promoted into full-fledged options. That's what's happened today to a few Gmail Labs, chief among them being Automatic Message Translation, which uses Google Translate to give you emails in your native language. The labs feature has been around since 2009, but in case you're not familiar, it automatically recognizes foreign-language emails and offers to translate them for you, much like how Google Chrome will when you visit a website in another language. The other, more minor changes that have been promoted from labs include a tweak that changes the Gmail tab title in your browser to say the number of unread messages first, as well as another lab that improves the Mute function's ability to stop you from being harassed by company-wide reply all email threads. The changes are active now, so check your Gmail to see the tweaks for yourself.