Only about 1 percent of the population of East Africa owns a "kompyuta." This is what a computer is called in Kiswahili.
Internet cafes are quickly spreading across the country but in order to benefit from this technology you need to know English. In East Africa, computer programs are sold in English only.
UNESCO estimates about 90 percent of the world's approximately 6,000 languages are not available on the Internet.
But in Africa there is change in the air. The search engine Google now offers an interface in Kiswahili. By the middle of the year, Microsoft plans to introduce Windows and Office versions in the same language.
Kiswahili is spoken by about 100 million people in six countries, making it worth the effort. "We want to give more people in Africa access to computers," says Patrick Opiyo, Project Manager at Microsoft in Nairobi.
The history of Kiswahili goes back to the times when Arabic seamen traded with the Bantu population. Since the upper classes in the former British colonies continued to speak English, Kiswahili modernized only slowly.
For many terms in the world of compu-ters, no separate Kiswahili word has established itself, as yet.
"You can see that clearly with the word kompyuta, a term derived from the English, of course," says Opiyo. "Today, some people prefer to say tarakilishi instead, a word which comes from Kiswahili for `calculate.'"
Translating the [computer] mouse was not a problem: Kiswahili also uses the name for the animal.
In order to translate the approximately 3,000 office software terms, Microsoft has employed linguists from Uganda to Zanzibar.
People were encouraged to make suggestions for translations through the Internet.
Microsoft adopted this method from its competitor Linux, which writes whole programs with the help of volunteers. "When a new term is translated into a native language, the language stays alive," Opiyo says.
Opiyo would like like to take Africanization a step further. "I could imagine incorporating local sounds, as well, so that when a new e-mail arrives, you don't hear the sound of a bell but the beat of an African drum."
When the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese forces 50 years ago this week, it prompted a mass exodus of some 2 million people — hundreds of thousands fleeing perilously on small boats across open water to escape the communist regime. Many ultimately settled in Southern California’s Orange County in an area now known as “Little Saigon,” not far from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where the first refugees were airlifted upon reaching the US. The diaspora now also has significant populations in Virginia, Texas and Washington state, as well as in countries including France and Australia.
On April 17, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) launched a bold campaign to revive and revitalize the KMT base by calling for an impromptu rally at the Taipei prosecutor’s offices to protest recent arrests of KMT recall campaigners over allegations of forgery and fraud involving signatures of dead voters. The protest had no time to apply for permits and was illegal, but that played into the sense of opposition grievance at alleged weaponization of the judiciary by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to “annihilate” the opposition parties. Blamed for faltering recall campaigns and faced with a KMT chair
Article 2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文) stipulates that upon a vote of no confidence in the premier, the president can dissolve the legislature within 10 days. If the legislature is dissolved, a new legislative election must be held within 60 days, and the legislators’ terms will then be reckoned from that election. Two weeks ago Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) proposed that the legislature hold a vote of no confidence in the premier and dare the president to dissolve the legislature. The legislature is currently controlled
As we live longer, our risk of cognitive impairment is increasing. How can we delay the onset of symptoms? Do we have to give up every indulgence or can small changes make a difference? We asked neurologists for tips on how to keep our brains healthy for life. TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH “All of the sensible things that apply to bodily health apply to brain health,” says Suzanne O’Sullivan, a consultant in neurology at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, and the author of The Age of Diagnosis. “When you’re 20, you can get away with absolute
RSS