Translation Africa Blog - News
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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How Translations Impacted Ebola in Kenya
18/08/2015The wonderful charity, Translators without Borders, have recently released a very interesting infographic outlining the correlation between the availability of translated information and the levels of knowledge people have – in this case, the ebola virus. Firstly, who are Translators without Borders? Translators without Borders is a charity that provides free translation services for humanitarian causes….
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Is Yoruba becoming a global language?
06/08/2015OK Yoruba might not yet be a “global” language such as the likes of English, Spanish or Chinese, but an academic in the USA has (rightfully in our opinion) stated that it is definitely becoming more important. Dr. Akinloye Ojo, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia, Atlanta, USA, in a recent…
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Last Ditch Effort to Save Ancient African Language
10/06/2015The Guardian, UK, is reporting a fascinating story of a 95-year-old woman who is helping in a last ditch effort to preserve an ancient African language very close to extinction. According to the newspaper, Hanna Koper and her two sisters are thought to be the last remaining speakers of the San language N|uu, which is…
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Translation in African Languages Crucial in Stopping Spread of Ebola
21/02/2015In the last few months, the ebola outbreak in Africa has escalated into a possible global threat. On the continent, a lot of misconceptions still exist about how to prevent the disease. Critics claim the lack of available information in the languages spoken in areas where the disease has spread is largely to blame for…
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Hausa Language Given Boost by BBC
16/09/2014Good news for Hausa speakers – the BBC has announced that they will start to broadcast a news programme in the West African language. The programme will take the form of 10-minute weekday bulletins. This will be the first time anywhere that an international broadcaster is going to air in the language. Hausa is spoken…
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The Afrikaans Language Debate
08/09/2014According to Marianne Thamm, the Afrikaans language isn’t used very often by its speakers. In fact, she believes activists only use Afrikaans to discuss the language itself! This way, the activists have disabled all public discourse on the issue, she says. On the Daily Maverick, Marianne Thamm has written an interesting piece on the African…
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Getting African Communities Online
15/08/2014The recently launched Kumisha Takes Wiki Project is aiming to develop a greater online presence for local communities on the African continent. These communities are often underrepresented online, a state of affairs that needs to change. In an article on Global Voices, Francois-Xavier Ada states that it is very difficult for people in Sub-Saharan Africa…
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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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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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