I’ve written quite a few posts on Appfrica in the past on computational linguistics and the potential for using the local languages of African users. Because literacy and multi-lingualism tend to be huge problems in African regions where education standards are poor, using local languages would potentially be a way to increase computer use among local users. At Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, students have undertaken an impressive project, translating Mozilla Firefox 3 into the local Ugandan language of Luganda.
It’s part of a wider translation initiative between Makerere University and Rhodes University as a project of Translate@thon, an effort to make local language versions of various mobile, web and desktop applications.
Anyone interested in the Language Pack can download it here. Of course you’ll need Firefox 3 installed to use it.
About the author: Jonathan Gosier is a software developer, writer and social entrepreneur. He currently lives in Kampala, Uganda where he incubates and invests in East African entrepreneurs as the CEO of Appfrica Labs. He's also a TED Fellow.
. Bookmark the
permalink. or leave a trackback:
Trackback URL.
Ugandan Students Translating Firefox into Local Languages
I’ve written quite a few posts on Appfrica in the past on computational linguistics and the potential for using the local languages of African users. Because literacy and multi-lingualism tend to be huge problems in African regions where education standards are poor, using local languages would potentially be a way to increase computer use among local users. At Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, students have undertaken an impressive project, translating Mozilla Firefox 3 into the local Ugandan language of Luganda.
It’s part of a wider translation initiative between Makerere University and Rhodes University as a project of Translate@thon, an effort to make local language versions of various mobile, web and desktop applications.
Anyone interested in the Language Pack can download it here. Of course you’ll need Firefox 3 installed to use it.