[A12n-forum] FYI: MailAfrica.net

["Don Osborn" <dzo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This item (link seen on the ILAT list) on African language e-mail may be of
interest.  And the MailAfrica site, http://mailafrica.net , is worth a
visit.  However it is not the only African language e-mail system - another
one has existed for a while on the Africast site, http://www.africast.com/
(click multilingual e-mail).

Don Osborn
Bisharat.net


CNN/Time Monday, August 25, 2003
http://www.time.com/time/interactive/stories/technology/inside_africa.html
"Kenyan Company Creates Native Language Email Services"

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- On a continent that speaks hundreds of different
languages, working with email and other computer applications written mostly
in English can be difficult. ISP Kenya wants to make it easier for Africans
to use these services with their native languages. Their first project is
the world's first email service with a menu in Swahili.

"What we wanted to do was to create a platform where they (the users) would
be comfortable and familiar (with the terminology)...like...e-mail, compose,
forward, delete, attachments...all these words (translated into their native
language)," explains ISP Kenya's Yazmin Nanji.

The company has done other languages like Kikuyu, Luaya, and Luo, and is
currently working on, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo.

Even users who understand English can enjoy the service. They say nothing
compares to the intimacy of a mother tongue. "It's something you become
proud of...your mother tongue is something that's yours. Nobody can take
that away from you," a local Internet cafe customer noted.

The company says email is just the start. They want to translate all their
content that relates to Africans in a way that makes it easier for users of
many different languages and cultures to interact.

ISP Kenya's email program can currently be seen on MailAfrica.net.

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