Translation Africa Blog - Languages
Aussie Launches Oromo Language Kids Book
15/02/2016Born to an Ethiopian father and a Turkish mother in Australia, Toltu Tufa, has now launched a publishing company from Australia that aims to revive the Oromo language. Growing up Toltu never understood why her father never discussed Oromo or his past in Ethiopia. As she grew older she discovered the reasons why. The Oromo…
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Advertisers Beware – Somali Only Signs in Mogadishu
12/02/2016Mogadishu – the capital of Somalia – has ordered businesses to remove English-language signboards and to replace them with Somali language ones in order to protect the native language. In yet another strike against the languages of colonial times, this is another step in the revival of African languages. “Residents are required to remove signs written…
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Berber language now official in Algeria
10/02/2016Some great news for the future of one of Africa’s languages: Algerian MPs have passed a package of reforms that include giving the Berber language official status. The language, also know as Amazigh, can now appear on official documents, although Arabic will remain the language of government. Although the language was recognised in 2002 as…
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New Keyboard for Nigerian Languages
04/02/2016If Africans want their languages and cultures to survive, they have to make strides themselves and no expect others to help. If you want an example, look no further than UK based Nigerian, Adebunmi Adeniran, who has invented a keyboard to support and enable writing of at least 12 Nigerian languages. Adeniran, in a story by…
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Microsoft bet on Swahili language to break African market
23/10/2015Microsoft has thrown down the gauntlet in Africa, launching Swahili text translation within Microsoft Translator, the first African language to be offered by the company. Translation into Swahili (or Kiswahili) will be available throughout the Microsoft Translator ecosystem of supported products allowing users to access it when needing translation help. This includes Bing, Microsoft Office, (Word, Word…
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Language barrier holding back Francophone startups in Africa
17/10/2015Is the language barrier in Africa holding back innovations and startups coming out of Francophone countries? This is the question investigated by Paul Adepoju on Ventureburn. According to his article, startups coming out of countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana gain continent-wide attention. However, very little is said about developments coming out of…
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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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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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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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A BBC Film on Kenya’s Languages
21/08/2015We love it when a news story hits about language in Africa; and the BBC have done us proud with a fantastic little film exploring Kenya’s many languages. The BBC Pop-Up blog received a suggestion by a viewer to look at the use and number of languages in Kenya. Although English and Kiswahili are the primary…
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