[UgaBYTES] Slow translation affecting product uptake in local languages

[Gabula Atudde]

Dear MF,
the challenges of Lack of agreed language terms, the slow pace of
translation and lack
of technical expertise have  not only greatly stunted the development of
software in local African languages but remains a sharp pain into the
attitude of many African people          e-sources of information.When we
members of Gabula Atudde acquired a computer and interney connectivity +25
members of the  be at the access point. Supported by OKN we
collected.recorded and shared local content in luganda.Many people  who
could not read or write in English could then contribute their
content/stories in Luganda even withou help as the basic commands on our
computer had been translated ..
Today hardly + 5 come  the access point. We can not afford a translater.
Regards
Esta
On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 11:00 AM, Mwathi Francis <mfrancis at ugabytes.org>wrote:

> Many African languages are not documented and most technology terms
> such as mouse, phishing and malware, among others, do not exist in
> African languages, which has hampered the development process.
>
> "There is insufficient investment in product translation by major
> global brands; the pace is too slow and even when done, it takes a
> long time to have the final products for use. Meanwhile, languages are
> developing and changing, meaning that the product may look "old" when
> developed because of the slow nature of implementation," said Hezron
> Mogambi, a linguistics lecturer and Swahili translator at the
> University of Nairobi.
>
> Microsoft, Google and Facebook are some of the global brands that have
> translated their products into local languages for use by communities
> that may not be conversant with English or prefer to use their local
> languages.
>
> Google has launched Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya (Ethiopia), Somali
> (Somalia), Kinyarwanda (Rwanda), Kirundi (Burundi), Lingala
> (Democratic Republic of Congo), Hausa, Yeruba (Nigeria), Zulu, Xhosa,
> SeSotho, Africaans (South Africa), Shona (Zimbabwe), Malagasy
> (Madagascar), and Akan (Ghana and Ivory Coast), said Julie Taylor,
> communications and public affairs officer at Google UK.
>
> In its quest to reach more people, Microsoft is developing products in
> more than 60 African languages under the Local Language Program.
>
> Microsoft has probably faced the biggest challenge in its translation
> projects -- its products are available in eight African languages, but
> the products are never translated in a timely way for use by the
> community. For instance, Windows Vista translation into Swahili is yet
> to be unveiled for the 100 million Swahili speakers in East and
> Central Africa. The company is in the process of testing Windows 7.
>
> "Lack of local localization experience has affected Microsoft. Even if
> partners have translation experience, they are not always familiar
> with the languages, localization practices and tools. It takes time
> for Microsoft to train and manage these skills," said Mark Matunga,
> citizenship manager, Microsoft Eastern and Southern Africa.
>
> Lack of agreed language tables may be a perfect excuse for lack of
> swift translation, but there is also the tug-of-war over which
> community has the authority to translate what language, and that
> affects the product's acceptability in the market.
>
> Tanzania has always held the higher ground in Swahili translation
> projects as Tanzanians speak the more authentic and pure Swahili
> compared to Kenya. So, if a product is translated in Kenya, Tanzanians
> may not accept it, citing the difference in terminologies. There is
> also the question of whether it is translated at a university or by a
> commercial vendor.
>
> A commercial translation company tends to have more experience, with
> less need for training or troubleshooting. Such companies also are
> familiar with the rigors of commercial development and tend to stay on
> schedule and work within Microsoft expectations more easily, said
> Matunga.
>
> "But working with local community groups offers Microsoft the
> opportunity to build deeper relationships, promote local businesses,
> build greater opportunity to ensure local relevance, which takes more
> time because we may need to communicate and coordinate among more
> stakeholders," added Matunga.
>
> Google has managed to escape the headache of slow translation projects
> by using machine translation for searches and Suggest, which is
> integrated within other Google global projects. Google recently
> launched Ethiopic transliteration in Suggest.
>
> "Most state-of-the-art, commercial machine-translation systems in use
> today have been developed using a rules-based approach and require a
> lot of work by linguists to define vocabularies and grammars," said
> Google UK's Taylor.
>
> However, automatic translation is considered very difficult because
> the meaning of words depends on the context in which they are used, as
> well as the structure and rules of a language. For instance, some
> words are similar but different in meaning.
>
> "While machine translation is not yet perfect, we believe that the
> current quality of machine translation is sufficient for many users to
> obtain a gist understanding of content in other languages -- and over
> time, our automatic translations will get better," added Taylor.
>
> While more and more Africans are expected to get online, the literacy
> levels are still slow and access to local content in local languages
> will be vital. Most of the content online, whether via PCs or mobiles,
> is still in English and French, which are the dominant Western
> languages in Africa.
>
> Compared to other regions, the translation projects are taking a
> similar slow pace, but the lack of documentation and local leadership
> in volunteer translation has affected the pace. The glossary of words
> is the toughest as meanings of words differ between language dialects,
> but once a glossary is done, more people will access online resources.
>
> "Use of local languages over the Internet will definitely help in the
> translation process because once standard equivalent terminology has
> been established, then the Internet would serve as a channel to the
> efforts of African states to use modern media and technology for
> development and civic participation," said Mogambi, who also lectures
> in Swahili at the university.
>
> Machine translation may become an easier tool, but the linguists and
> cultural experts need to develop acceptable terminologies for
> communities to take up.
>
> Source: www.computerworld.co.ke
>
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>
> Francis Mwathi
> Support Community Facilitator
> UgaBYTES Initiatives (www.ugabytes.org)
> Telecentr.org (www.telecentrecommunity.ning.com)
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> E-Mail: mfrancis at ugabytes.org
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