Google in Brazil

On January 31 of this year, I wrote to Google to ask why there was no Brazilian version of Google News. You see, Google News aggregates all the major news sources, so it’s an easy and powerful way to see what’s happening in the news. I wanted to keep up with the country where I had been a Mormon missionary and keep my language skills current. There were Chinese and Spanish and French versions of Google News, but no Portuguese version.

Today Google announced that they now offer Google News in Portguese. (They also have a separate Portugal page.) I don’t yet see an RSS feed or email alerts for this, but at least I’ll have a way to find out what’s going on in Brazil at a glance when I want to.

During the summer, Google acquired a Brazilian technology company called Akwan based in Belo Horizonte, the city where I spent most of my time as a missionary. That office became the Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento do Google na América Latina (Google’s Center for Research and Development in Latin America) and they’re the ones that have been working on the Brazilian version of Google News. Parabéns to the Belo Horizonte office!

P.S. Google can translate.