{"id":3674,"date":"2021-11-19T14:04:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T14:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/translatorswithoutborders.org\/blog\/?p=3674"},"modified":"2024-08-22T14:27:31","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T14:27:31","slug":"meet-jeff-and-ursuline-supporting-the-african-language-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/translatorswithoutborders.org\/blog\/meet-jeff-and-ursuline-supporting-the-african-language-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Jeff and Ursuline: Supporting the African language community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TWB’s global community of linguists donate their time and skills to help people get vital information and be heard, whatever language they speak. We love sharing our volunteers’ stories as a way to recognize their work and inspire others.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa is home to an estimated 2,000 languages. Amid such linguistic diversity, languages are important to an individual’s cultural identification and community development. For too many African linguists, poor governmental and institutional support hinders their potential. A lack of educational resources, reliable connection, and training opportunities prevents many from pursuing a career in the language industry. On a brighter note, many language enthusiasts are starting initiatives to help promote and strengthen indigenous African languages. They\u2019re uniting their minds, voices, and talent to sustain the African language community through networking<\/a> and innovative technology, such as a speech-recognition program in Rwanda<\/a> or local-language chatbot apps to answer people\u2019s health questions in the DRC and Nigeria.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The African language community at TWB<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We recognize their great capacity. Around 3,500 of our volunteer linguists are from approximately 50 African countries. They speak over 200 languages, from Acholi to Zulu. Being part of our community enables them to use their skills to make communication more equitable while learning and acquiring experience. Self-taught linguists who may lack local opportunities can benefit from online training and connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent community engagement initiative this summer, we brought African language speakers together for East African Language week<\/a>. Participants met the TWB team (virtually!), and joined training sessions on the tools and guides we use. This enabled them to develop language tech skills relevant to their TWB projects and future careers. We also ran a contest<\/a>, which spiked a lot of interest among the community!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of our linguists speak Swahili, a Bantu language primarily spoken in East Africa. With about 15 dialects and many local language influences, delivering information in Swahili can be a difficult task for organizations trying to reach local people. Thankfully, our TWB community of Swahili speakers works hard to improve communication between humanitarians and the communities they support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swahili skills support people across Africa<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We interviewed Jeff from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ursuline from Tanzania. Their support is vital to improve two-way communication in their countries\u2019 varieties of Swahili. While they take part in many translation projects, those related to COVID-19 were particularly significant for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Jeff and Ursuline have been personally affected by the pandemic. When it all started, Jeff had just lost his job, which caused financial instability in his family. Ursuline shared that she has lost relatives, friends, and fellow health workers to the virus. Their countries struggled at all levels. Jeff and Ursuline helped provide reliable COVID-19 information that previously wasn\u2019t available in Swahili.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a health educator, I wish people could understand and follow the recommended basic preventive measures of COVID-19, such as handwashing, social distancing, and getting vaccinated.<\/p>Ursuline, Swahili translator<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

About Ursuline<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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