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Kenyan Company Creates Native Language Email Services
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CNN's Catherine Bond reports on the first e-mail program in Swahili (May 18)
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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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