Month: March 2018

Zimbabwe, the Guinness World Record Holder

Once known as the ‘Jewel of Africa’ for its prosperity, Zimbabwe is a country with the most official languages in Africa. This comes as a result of having 16 official languages legally codified by Zimbabwe’s new constitution after breaking their cordial neighbor’s record, South Africa who had only 11.

Zimbabwe’s Official Languages

The distinctive definition of official languages that is to say by an organization for economic corporation and development, is a language that has legal status in a particular legally constituted political entity and that serves as a language of administration’, for the country as a whole. However, a country might be having many languages but not all considered to be official. For example, India’s overall official language recognized in the constitution is Hindi, though other languages are considered official languages of certain areas like Kashimir in Kashimir and many others.

Here are Zimbabwe’s 16 official languages approved by parliament on 9 May 2013

How to effectively communicate in Zimbabwe

With English as the main language used in the education and judiciary systems but less so in the rural areas, 70% of the natives speak Shona and 20% speak Sindebele language.

Now ask oneself, with such a number of official languages how can communication be effectively done in such a country? Well, the idea of seeking professional translation services have got to kick in to save the situation. Let’s take a look at some of the professional translation services that can possibly be done in Zimbabwe to ease communication and smoothen in the business world;

Other African language translation services that exist include Malagasy translation services, Tigrinya, Oromo among others.

However, no matter the area of specialization one deals in, professional translation services are always the answer be it Medical, Education, Legal, and Financial.

Africa Portuguese Translation; The Language in competition with English & French

Did you know that there are over 30 million Portuguese speakers on the African continent! Well, 14 million is the number of those who have Portuguese as their mother tongue or first language while the rest have it as second or third language and because of the many indigenous languages spoken in countries where Portuguese is, African Portuguese Translation is vital for purposes of effective communication.

How Africa Portuguese Translation came to be

This was as a result of King John the 1st wanting to access West Africa so as to get hold of the gold there. Some of the African countries currently speaking Portuguese happen to be former colonies of the Spanish and retained the language as a mother tongue for most born after colonization and also as an official language. The official status of the language is visible in government instituions, schools to mention a few and such countries include;

Then there are countries where Portuguese is spoken as a result of the speakers fleeing from their countries of origin as a result of civil wars and thus continued to use their language of origin in their new host countries. Such people now live in the Southern parts of the African continent and they include Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, and Senegal to mention a few. There is a new member of the Portuguese speaking African countries and this is Guinea Bissau.

Necessity of Africa Portuguese Translation Services

Portuguese speaking countries in Africa are fewer than the English and French speaking countries and therefore translation services are crucial for effective communication between these countries to take place. Africa Portuguese Translation is important in both the Portuguese speaking countries and for these countries with others.

The reason is that the Portuguese African countries have got several indigenous languages which makes communication a bit hard between people of different indigenous languages. There is therefore a need to translate from Portuguese to the indigenous languages and from indigenous languages to Portuguese.

Then there is the need to carry out translations from African Portuguese to languages outside the Portuguese speaking countries both in Africa and other countries outside Africa.

Competition from English and Africa French Translation

At some point it seems like African Portuguese is into an invisible battle with English and French because the former is spoken by a few countries compared to the other two languages. Therefore the Portuguese speaking countries in Africa are working hard to preserve the Portuguese culture and this is already seen in many songs by African artists singing African Portuguese.

Other African Language Translation services

By Angela Kyolaba

Why Language Translation is Very Important for Africa

Due to businesses and services growing internationally and people globe-trotting with many checking out the African continent, there is the need to communicate which is not always easy as different regions speak different languages. Good thing is a solution in form of language translation services exists and all one needs is to find a professional service provider.

Reasons for Language translation services in Africa

First and foremost have you looked at the number of languages that the African continent alone has? It is estimated that Africa alone has an estimation of 1000-1500 indigenous languages if we do not consider the ones introduced by foreigners in form of missionaries, explorers and slave traders like Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and English. Among the 1000-1500 are Hausa, Yoruba, Ganda, Kinyarwanda, Zulu, chewa, Xhosa, Amharic, Somali, Tigrinya etc. African countries with the most languages include; The Democratic Republic of Congo with 242 languages, Cameroon with of 230, Tanzania with 246, South Sudan with 114 and Nigeria with over 500 languages alone. With all these languages communication would almost be impossible unless there was a common language which may not be the case thus language translation services being some sort of savior.

If one has a desire to expand a business or service to the African continent, then language translation services would come in handy for purposes of effective communication. The point is driven home faster and more satisfactorily if it comes in a language best understood by the intended audience. Therefore, it rewards in the long run when the packaging of a product is labeled in an indigenous language best understood by a potential buyer. The product or service translated into various languages gets to more people than that whose labels or directions is left in a foreign language. That is why we see advertisements of famous brands like OMO, Colgate, Coke and many more making rounds in indigenous languages on various media platforms in Africa. One might wonder why not leave or make the advertisements in English to the English speaking nations or in French to the French speaking nations of Africa? The answer is because when translated into an indigenous language with the context and culture of the people in mind, it drives the point further than it would have.

At the end of the day, it is professional language translations that really bring about effective communication regardless of the field of translation for example; Medical translations, Academic translations etc.

Sudan dies in Kenya! Why Swahili Translation Services are Important To Wildlife

Sudan recently passed away in Kenya at the age of 45, which is the equivalent of a 90 year old human being. No, Sudan in this case is not a country; he was rather the last Northern White male Rhinoceros remaining because of the species rarity. Although he left behind two daughters, the entire Wild life fraternity world over is saddened by his passing because his subspecies is a rare gem.

Sudan passed away at the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya leaving behind two females and it is with the latter that Wild life sympathisers have hope placed that one day they will be carriers of the next generation of the Northern White Rhino.

It should be noted that Kenya, a country in East Africa was home together with other African countries to several of the white rhinos; the other countries included;

It is reported that the population of the northern white Rhino was wiped out in the 1970’s and 80’s when poaching was at its pick due to the demand of rhino horn for Chinese medicines and daggers made in Yemen.

Although the death of Sudan has saddened many, it should not e over looked that there is still plenty of wild life basking in the tropics of the African continent with many other species that are successfully regenerating. This is evidenced by the ever increasing number of the wild life tourism sector and the difference this time is that the locals in these countries too are part of the tourists that flock these wild life centers.

Swahili Translation Services

The boost in the wild life tourism sector in Africa has also highlighted the need for professional Translation Services. Translations and interpretations have always existed in the tourism sector with tour guides gambling their way through with broken English or with the tourists throwing a few words they pick up in the African languages.

However, there is the rise of professional translation services in Africa all together thus knitting Africa closer to itself and to the outside world through effective communication.

Some of the African translation services that exist include;

Professional translation services are the way to go for purposes of high quality results in which ever field one specialises in; could be Education, Health, Medical, Nature etc.

By Angela Kyolaba

Is that the best translation services provider you can get?

In this day and era where the world is called a global village, translation services providers and entrepreneurs have a dire need to have their ventures recognized and consumed from all over the world by people of all sorts of languages and backgrounds.

This therefore puts professional translation services at the forefront of sought after services especially by those ventures wanting to expand and make it globally. This is so that their message is understood by each group of people best in their own language and culture for purpose of effective communication.

However, how does one tell the right professional translation services provider for them?

This is crucial because with the need to ease communication, many translations companies have and continue to spring up as linguists see the opportunity not only to offer their services but to also make a quick buck. This therefore brings us to how a client can pick out the best professional translations company for their satisfaction.

Professionalism; this is very crucial because it is what sets a genuine service provider from the multitude of them. This may be displayed by how well displayed and laid out their contact information is. This can be through a well done website filled with all the necessary information a client needs to have their queries answered before even contacting the company. For example, the company website, brochures or any other advertisement should list all the services there is to offer plus the necessary contact information. This saves the client’s time on whether to go on and contact this particular company because the particular service he/she wants is listed or just look for another that offers what they want. This availability of information assures a potential client that there is no shady business going on as opposed to those who only offer their contacts without any further information.

Specialization; it is advisable to deal with a professional translations company that specializes in those languages used by a client’s target audience; this maybe languages of a particular region or country. With specialization comes perfection because it means that this particular company is well versed and focuses solely on specific languages thus being the best company. For example if one wants to venture into the African market, then a translations company focusing on African languages would be a perfect match because they will have native translators or interpreters of a particular language at hand not having to outsource them from other companies. Languages common in Africa may include;

The above may also apply to a specific genre of work or expertise and this could be Financial translations, Medical translations, Educational translations, Immigration translations etc.

Experience; Here the number of years a company has been in operation are taken into account because with years a good company gets to work for big clients like government institutions thus making it credible and trustworthy before potential clients. This means that such a company has passed all mistakes and weaknesses that upcoming companies may have, just like the saying goes, ‘experience is the best teacher’.

African languages in the Diaspora

While the African continent is known to have over 1500 indigenous languages used and spoken, one wonders how many of those African languages are still used while in the Diaspora. It should be noted that thousands of Africans cross to other continents for various reasons and these include; recreational purposes like tourism or holidays, educational purposes, marriage purposes, work related purposes and Medical purposes to mention the major ones.

Continue reading “African languages in the Diaspora”

Israel Expelling African Immigrants, Ironic!

Hehehe, this is very ironic because Israel is synonymous with being gracious, good and generous however, this doesn’t seem to be the case for the unfortunate African immigrants who are on the verge of expulsion come April. It should be noted that most of these immigrants fled mostly insecurity and persecutions from their home countries.

What makes the expulsion of immigrants from African countries ironic?

Well, decades ago the Jews were being persecuted especially by the Nazi regime of Hitler and were hunted down all over Europe with those captured placed in concentration camps where most of them lost their lives. So it is weird that there is little or no compassion for their African counterparts. Whereas the latter are not being tortured or killed, they are faced with a threat of being taken back to Africa where they originally escaped harsh conditions.

Where do these refugees come from?

Eritrea; Most of those who came or come to Egypt from Eritrea were seeking political asylum after political torture from their home country. Here most of the refugees flee to the North through Sudan then Egypt before finally getting into Israel.

Sudan; from here people were fleeing violence

South Sudan

Ethiopia

Somalia

It is alleged that since the year 2005, African immigrants have been entering into Israel with numbers said to have been 60,000 until there was instability in the peninsular, Israel tighten her border security and the new escape route to Europe through Libya.

So what next?

The immigrants have been given three months to leave the country and go back to their original countries. Leave for third countries like Rwanda and Uganda or face imprisonment.

The bait here is that those who agree to leave will be given over 3000 dollars with air travel costs covered while those who won’t relent will face imprisonment.

Those exempted from this expulsion include children, the elderly and those who got into the country as a result of human trafficking.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls these people escaping persecution from their home countries infiltrators looking for work. This has encouraged racism and degradation of the immigrants by certain officials working on their cases.

However there has been an outpouring of sympathy for African immigrants not only from the international community but also from Israel by those citing the holocaust as the main reason as to why these asylum seekers should be granted stay.