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This depends on who you want to prioritise. How many people use Gmail in a language other than US English? How many people change their UI language and rename

by edent 6y ago

This depends on who you want to prioritise. How many people use Gmail in a language other than US English? How many people change their UI language and rename folders such that there is a clash? Optimise for where it will have the most impact, and develop a work-around for the minority of users where this causes a problem.

emilecantin 6y ago
> How many people use Gmail in a language other than US English? You'd be surprised. There are only about 400 million native English speakers [0], and Gmail has 1.5 billion users [1]. If we assumed that all native English speakers use Gmail, they'd represent not even a third of the users. Of course, there are many non-native English speakers, but I'd assume a significant fraction of them would prefer to use Gmail in their language. I'd argue i18n has a huge impact, but Google really doesn't optimize for it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language [1]: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/26/gmail-dominates-consumer-email-with-1point5-billion-users.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/26/gmail-dominates-consumer-ema...
- danaris 6y ago
  But how many of those "users" are actually unique? I, personally, have 3 "GMail" accounts: one @gmail.com, one @ my own domain, and one for work. So if I were the average English-speaking user of GMail, having every English speaker be a user would pretty much cover the 1.5 billion. (I do not, in any way, think I am the average—I merely seek to point out that it's significantly more complicated to calculate than your post suggests.)
- ssdspoimdsjvv 6y ago
  The real question is how many people use advanced searching. I would guess the answer is < 1%.
- mrgriffin 6y ago
  I think the person you're responding to is agreeing with you that you should optimize for languages other than English rather than for people naming a label "Bin" and then switching to the UK locale.
- account42 6y ago
  > There are only about 400 million native English speakers [0], and Gmail has 1.5 billion users [1]. Don't assume that only native English speakers (want to) use things in English.

by edent 6y ago

emilecantin 6y ago

> How many people use Gmail in a language other than US English? You'd be surprised. There are only about 400 million native English speakers [0], and Gmail has 1.5 billion users [1]. If we assumed that all native English speakers use Gmail, they'd represent not even a third of the users. Of course, there are many non-native English speakers, but I'd assume a significant fraction of them would prefer to use Gmail in their language. I'd argue i18n has a huge impact, but Google really doesn't optimize for it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language [1]: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/26/gmail-dominates-consumer-email-with-1point5-billion-users.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/26/gmail-dominates-consumer-ema...

danaris 6y ago
But how many of those "users" are actually unique? I, personally, have 3 "GMail" accounts: one @gmail.com, one @ my own domain, and one for work. So if I were the average English-speaking user of GMail, having every English speaker be a user would pretty much cover the 1.5 billion. (I do not, in any way, think I am the average—I merely seek to point out that it's significantly more complicated to calculate than your post suggests.)
ssdspoimdsjvv 6y ago
The real question is how many people use advanced searching. I would guess the answer is < 1%.
mrgriffin 6y ago
I think the person you're responding to is agreeing with you that you should optimize for languages other than English rather than for people naming a label "Bin" and then switching to the UK locale.
account42 6y ago
> There are only about 400 million native English speakers [0], and Gmail has 1.5 billion users [1]. Don't assume that only native English speakers (want to) use things in English.