Are web safe fonts internationally safe as well?
<p>I understand that web safe fonts have a high chance of being install on most OS. Looking at <a href="http://www.cssfontstack.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.cssfontstack.com/</a> shows what OS has which font installed. However, what I can't seem to find any information for is if web safe fonts are internationally safe as well, that is, will the font render in any language?</p>

<p>I looked at tons of international sites to look at their font stacks, and this is what I found:</p>

<ul>
<li>Arabic &amp; Persian: <code>Verdana, Arial, Tahoma</code>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.drupal.org/node/695128" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.drupal.org/node/695128</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Pashto (Afghanistan): <code>Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, Verdana</code>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://atra.gov.af/ps" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://atra.gov.af/ps</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Chinese: <code>"Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Hiragino Sans GB", "Microsoft YaHei" ,"微软雅黑", Arial "宋体","Arial Narrow"</code>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://gist.github.com/feimoslong/3496114" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://gist.github.com/feimoslong/3496114</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kendraschaefer.com/2012/06/chinese-standard-web-fonts-the-ultimate-guide-to-css-font-family-declarations-for-web-design-in-simplified-chinese/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.kendraschaefer.com/2012/06/chinese-standard-web-fonts-the-ultimate-guide-to-css-font-family-declarations-for-web-design-in-simplified-chinese/</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Japanese: <code>"Lato", "Meiryo", "メイリオ", "ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3", "Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro", Osaka, "ＭＳ Ｐゴシック", "MS PGothic", sans-serif;</code> <code>Helvetica, HirakakuProN-W3</code>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14563064/japanese-standard-web-fonts">Japanese standard web fonts</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gov-online.go.jp/data_room/calendar/event/201603.html#nousongyoson" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.gov-online.go.jp/data_room/calendar/event/201603.html#nousongyoson</a></li>
<li><a href="https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%94%BF%E5%BA%9C-86390" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%94%BF%E5%BA%9C-86390</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Hindi (India): <code>Arial,Verdana,Tahoma, Helvetica, mangal</code> (lots of website use nato sans or source sans web font)

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.sewayojan.org/Default3.aspx?l=0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.sewayojan.org/Default3.aspx?l=0</a></li>
<li><a href="http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/DoIT/delhi+govt+hindi/home" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/DoIT/delhi+govt+hindi/home</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.livehindustan.com/news/national/article1-mp-govt-in-trouble-with-nilgai-because-of-cow-will-change-name-519355.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.livehindustan.com/news/national/article1-mp-govt-in-trouble-with-nilgai-because-of-cow-will-change-name-519355.html</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Hebrew: <code>Verdana, Arial, Helvetica</code>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.gov.il/firstgov" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.gov.il/firstgov</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.pmo.gov.il/Pages/default.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.pmo.gov.il/Pages/default.aspx</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Urdu (Pakistan): <code>"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif</code>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://javedch.com/pakistan/2016/03/01/143024" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://javedch.com/pakistan/2016/03/01/143024</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li>Thai: <code>"Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif</code>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://newdelhi.thaiembassy.org/th/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://newdelhi.thaiembassy.org/th/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.iadopa.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.iadopa.org/</a></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>From inspecting these sites, I see that each web safe font gets mapped to a font file on my OS that has the characters needed to render the language. For example, when Arial is used for a site in Hindi, I see that the font Kohinoor Devanagari is used for any missing characters from the Arial font.</p>

<p>So here are my questions: will a web safe font always map to a font on any OS/device that can render the language? By using a web safe font can I translate my site into any language without needing to change the font for that language?</p>