Translation Africa Blog - September 2015
Which African language would you learn?
30/09/2015As a translation and localization agency most of our clients come from outside Africa. Some ask us which African language is best or easiest to learn. In all honesty, we don’t know which is the easiest to learn as there are so many. However an article on Insidermonkey.com claims they have identified the 5 easiest. Why learn…
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Why is Africa a “have-not” in the Digital Divide?
22/09/2015Many people wonder as to why Africa lags so far behind on the internet stakes. Look at any infographic about “the most” internet users, highest penetration rates or e-commerce sales and you rarely see an African nation. Why? The reason why is what is known as the digital divide. The digital divide is a term used…
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Hausa Language Translators Wrestle with Censorship Board
19/09/2015In Nigeria, Hausa language translators and the Kano Censorship Board are tied in a struggle over the rights to India-Hausa movies. The Board accused the translators as not having the copyright to allow them to translate the latest cinema from Bollywood. What are India-Hausa movies? Indian-Hausa or India-Hausa movies are a fascinating Nigerian product of…
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Africa can create rival to Amazon and e-Bay
15/09/2015African business people should stop waiting for the likes of Amazon and e-Bay and develop their own online e-commerce websites – this is the opinion of Chinese entrepreneurs in Uganda. Africa has a lot to sell, and a lot of people to buy goods. However, what it lacks is the online channels to allow businesses to…
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How Senegalese immigrant preserved the Pulaar language
15/09/2015We often cite examples of Africans preserving their native languages through a range of measures; so it’s great to see a news story about a Senegalese immigrant in France who helped preserve the Pulaar language. Souleymane Diamanka recalls the story of his father moving to Bordeaux in the 1970s and staying in touch with family…
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Zee World targets Africa through localization of TV content
13/09/2015Major news that Zee World, the bollywood television channel is going to launch a French-speaking channel for Africa by the end of the year. Yet another media business which has spotted the potential of Africa and are now investing in localized content. Ratna Siriah, Business Head at Zee World, speaking at the MultiChoice Africa Content Showcase,…
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Is there a difference between French and African French?
11/09/2015We do a lot of translation work with French. Many new clients that come to us for work involving French usually do so having seen poor results previously when using other translation solutions. There is a general assumption within and without the translation industry that you can use any French translator to deal with documents…
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Hotel Website Adds Nigerian Language Translation
10/09/2015Much of the attention we give on our blog is to outsiders translating into African languages in order to gain market entry. Perhaps we don’t give enough light to businesses within African who also use language and localization to get customers. With this in mind, we were happy to see that Jovago, one of Africa’s largest…
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IT students create Hausa and Fulfude language app
02/09/2015An exciting mix of tech and language by students in Nigeria has resulted in a new app to help people learn the Hausa and Fulfude languages. Dr Margee Ensign of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), in Yola, spoke to an audience earlier this week and explained how the language app came about. “We have a programme…
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