Translation Africa Blog - July 2014
Facebook Target Zambia in Africa Expansion Plans
31/07/2014Facebook has today unveiled its plan to get millions of people in Zambia online and of course using Facebook in the process! Internet.org explained to he BBC that 85% of people in Africa who aren’t connected to the internet are actually in places with mobile phone coverage. So why aren’t they logging on? Well two…
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Africa Reaps the Benefits of E-Learning
31/07/2014Did you think that e-learning requires the most advanced technologies? Think again! E-learning in Africa is taking a flight, and a basic mobile phone is all users need. Recently, over 1,000 people from 68 countries got together in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, for a conference called “Opening frontiers to the future.” This conference…
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Research into Luyia Languages Gets Financial Boost
21/07/2014A financial grant has recenlty been awarded to a project that aims to document four African languages. This research wants to prevent these languages from dying out, but might prove to be very useful for overall linguistic research as well. If you are a regular follower of our blog, you know that many languages are…
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World Banks Wants More African Languages Online
18/07/2014The internet presence of vernacular languages, for example those spoken on the African continent, is quite small. According to some, this is the reason why many local languages are on the verge of extinction. Others claim, however, that ICT can be used to preserve local languages and improve language learning. As you might know, many…
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An Interview with Yoruba Linguist, Kola Tubosun
10/07/2014In the first of our upcoming series of interviews with linguists and professionals working in or with Africa, we are delighted to bring you our interview with Nigerian writer and linguist, Kola Tubson. Kola, perhaps could you start off by explaining what you do as a profession? I am a writer and linguist. I currently…
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Educational App in South Africa targets Afrikaans Speakers
09/07/2014Most students are not too keen on learning subjects such as maths or sciences. However, a South African company has found a way to make these subjects a lot more interesting! Admire Moyo recently shard a piece of interesting information in his article on IT Web! He revealed that the South African company Rethink Education…
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Gmail adds two more African Languages
08/07/2014To get an idea of which languages are important online, one only has to look to the likes of Facebook and Google. The languages they translate and localize their platforms into usually point to that language’s potential. So, interestingly Google has today announced that they are launching their Gmail email service platform into two of…
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African Storybook Project Using Translations to Help Improve Literacy
08/07/2014It is often said that children’s literacy is greatly helped when parents or teachers read them stories. However, African teachers and parents often don’t have access to picture books in their own languages, which means the literacy of African children is not that great. However, with the launch of a new project on African picture…
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Should everyone in South Africa speak an African Language?
07/07/2014Recently, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters Party in South Africa stated that all white South Africans should learn an African language to create more unity in the country. Website AllAfrica asked five South African youths about their opinion on the matter. In the middle of June, Julius Malema made his first appearance in…
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Language Transition Problems for Tanzianian School Children
01/07/2014Children in Tanzania are usually taught in their native Kiswahili language in primary education; their secondary education, however, is usually in the English language. As many children lack a thorough understanding of this foreign language, Tanzanian stakeholders are calling for a review of this policy. When they make the transition from primary to secondary education,…
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