12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a communications network coupled to the processing device, the communications network configured to transport the text messages between recipients of the text messages.
11. A system for translating text messages, comprising: a translation engine for translating text messages into a preferred language of recipients of the text messages; a processing device coupled to the translation engine, the processing device configured to access a storage device on a server processing device to identify language preference for a plurality of users and to identify a preferred language from a particular user of the plurality of users and send and receive the text messages, configured to determine whether text messages received in a source language are in a preferred language selected by recipients of the text messages, and configured to receive and provide authorization information for accessing an instant message account of the particular user; and a display device coupled to the processing device, the display device configured to display the text messages in a preferred language selected by a user of the display device, wherein all messages displayed in the display device are displayed in the preferred language selected by the user.