Cameroon has 230 indigenous languages! Yes, you read right with 55 of these languages being national languages, 3 being lingua franca and 2 which are English & African French being the country’s official languages thus being referred to as both Francophone and Anglophone.
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What better way to tag at one’s heart strings than with their own native African languages? We see the international scene raving over Africa like it just started existing yester year and therefore, service providers, NGOs, entrepreneurs, brands and investors are shoving to get a piece of this Africa.
Continue reading “Connect to your market through their Native African Languages”
Contacting an individual Linguist for your translation work involving African languages may appear simpler however, hiring a Professional African Translation Company will boost your business or make sure the intended audience/market gets your message/product loud and clear.
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Nyege nyege almost caused billion shilling losses to the proprietor in a not so rare case of misinterpretation or generally miscommunication of a word in Luganda and Swahili. You ask how? Imagine cancelling flights, hotel bookings and not to forget; the deposits already paid to the local and international artists!
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As it is, there are franchise branches already existing and still opening up in Africa although they originate from other continents and these include Woolworth, KFC, Pizza Hut and other brands like Colgate, Coca cola, Pepsi if we are to mention the common names in the market.
Well, the above are the common ones like we said but you might be an entrepreneur or business person desiring to expand to the African continent which as of today bustling with potential. Unlike in the old days, there is a shift to this continent where people are looking out for what works in Africa.
For example, we see international acts in the music industry making collaborations with African artists or incorporating the African print into their wardrobe. French Montana. An American Hip hop artist recently made News when he made a song with triplet, Ugandan kids famous on YouTube for their dancing videos.
Another here is Gwen Stefani a renowned American pop artist who was also a judge on the popular singing talent search show the voice who has been regularly seen to wear African print.
It should be noted that Africa has over 1.2 billion inhabitants which is a very good number in the eyes of a business man wanting to acquire a bigger market. Therefore a professional African Translations Company is crucial for purposes of effective communication because the message or the product will be advertised in the language the people in the particular African country understand best. For example the English understood in Nigeria differs from that in Uganda as each is influenced by culture and indigenous languages.
Speaking of indigenous languages, there are over 1500 languages on the African continent with many not mutually intelligible thus another reason as to why your business message should be packaged in a way a particular people from a certain region will understand. This does not necessarily mean that you will need translations for all because honestly, a country like Tanzania has over 100 languages. However, one can find common ground in lingua franca or national languages spoken by all and then package the message/product/service to suit how that particular language is spoken or understood in that particular region.
Did you know that there are 54 countries in Africa? 54 potential markets for your business to expand and make more profits especially with the fast growing economies of these countries. According to the world bank, Africa makes it to the list of the fastest growing economies in the world in the year 2018 and the African countries on this list include Ghana with a GDP growth at market prices at 8.3% , Ethiopia 8.2%, Djibouti 7.2% and with Tanzania at 6.3%.
Professional here means that there is structure in such companies with project managers, translators and interpreters and proof readers. This therefore ensures that there is due process and in case of errors, they are detected as the translations work passes through many pairs of capable hands. This also means that the translators or interpreters actually studied what they do on top of being native speakers of the African language in question. Being a native speaker is crucial because this individual then is familiar with the characteristics and mannerisms of the language in question.
Confidentiality is key when it comes to your business because you would want to ensure that none of your business secrets fall into the hands of your competitors. This is taken seriously when dealing with a professional African Translations Company as they are well aware of the consequences involved if this were to happen.
A Professional African Translations Company will consider specialization when hiring its personnel and therefore have translators/interpreters in major aspects of life like Medical, Academic, and Financial. This ensures that the translators are well versed with the wordings and frame work according to what your business deals in.
By Angela Kyolaba
For more information click here.
“Somalia joins Al-Shabab” is a statement doing its rounds by sports, especially football fanatics on twitter rather in a lighter sense and not in the terrorist connotation, an example of how powerful Professional African Language Translation determines the effectiveness of communication.
In this sense Somalia is a professional Brazilian football player who was formerly with the Toulouse FC team in France but recently transferred to Al-Shabab in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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Kofi Annan, the former first black African man, and the 8th General Secretary of the United Nations was on Saturday pronounced dead at the age of 80, following a short illness as reported by the official UN website in all the 6 United Nations Official Languages.
The peace Nobel prize winner served graciously for 2 terms from 1997 to the year 2006 and his reign was praised for diligence and servant hood especially followed by his stint as the UN’s convoy to Syria in a bid to bring an end to the relentless wars.
Like other breaking News that affect the world in one or another, just like Kofi Annan’s death touched us because the UN is present in almost all countries of the world especially in parts ridden with natural disasters, poverty, sickness ad war, the News is spread much faster and further when broken in a number of languages.
One may argue that social media and the general development in technology should be credited for faster distribution and consuming of News. This is true to some extent but is a factor like other factors to cause News to travel faster.
Having something put out there in various languages aids its fast movement because people get to read, watch or hear the News in the language they understand most. For example, on the United Nations official page, one has an option of clicking on their language of choice option.
It should be noted that 3 of the 6 United Nations official languages are widely spoken in Africa as official, first, second languages or as lingua franca. For example, Arabic is a major language in North African states like Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan although it comes in different variations depending on where one is and is also spoken to some extent by so many Muslims in all parts of Africa.
English on the other hand is spoken by almost all former British colonies on the African continent and other countries that simply adapted to it and took it on which include; Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, Zambia, Namibia and Rwanda. It should be noted that the latter country took on English in after supposedly getting frustrated by the French language in a bid to strengthen ties with her English speaking countries in 2009.
Chinese is offered as a special course for the interested few to learn especially at tertiary levels and language institutions. There is likely a bright future for the Chinese language in Africa because of China’s increased interest on the continent.
All in all effective communication is key to the smooth running of things in the world today and availing News in languages people understand best is key to achieving effective global communication. While the United Nations and a few other entities have put this in place, more especially on the business world need to follow for its success and professional translation services is one way to look at it.
By Angela Kyolaba
For more information click here.
A Taiwanese national Chang Ming Chuang has been reported dead after an attack by a hippo at lake Naivasha in Kenya after the man who was first falsely identified as Chinese is reported to have been tracking the hippo. It is also reported that there are about 500 deaths of people by hippos in Africa a year, although this very incident is said to have been caused by rising water levels that cause these animals that way more than 2000 kilograms to get into people’s farms and at hotels in search for food and African languages barrier.
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While a multilingual might interpret when the need arises for easier communication, there are serious moments when Specialized African Translation Services call it customized interpretation will be needed. This especially in more complex sectors where there’s no room for any kind of mistake as the latter may lead into causalities that may not necessarily reversed.
For example, if information on a medical report is mistranslated, this may lead to wrong dosages being dispensed thus causing health problems that may bring about death!
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The unfortunate incident where a tourist guide gave a fraudulent interpretation from English to Kiswahili of what a white tourist was saying before journalists in one of Africa’s sought after tourist destinations; The Serengeti National Park caused quite a stir in 2017.
The above was able to be pointed out however there are sadly so many other cases when it comes to interpreting situations from foreign languages to African languages and vice versa. This happens especially when people or businesses in need of effective communication in terms of African Languages Interpreting Services turn to whoever is available instead of seeking professional help.
This harms the service providers in question like it did to Tanzania’s tourism industry at that time. Potential tourists were a little skeptical as to what aids they would be assigned with in case they visited the Serengeti. This goes for any other kind of business where in case of any miscommunication, buyers or users of a service or product become skeptical and may unfortunately opt for the competitor’s product. understand.
Nelson Mandela’s would be 100th birthday was recently celebrated, taking us back to his funeral in 2013 when people watching a live broadcast in South Africa noticed that the interpreter was merely making meaningless hand gestures and not communicating anything at all.
Another example here is facebook; a social media platform used by 16 million Nigerians every month, 12 million people in South Africa and 4.5 million in Kenya. It offers a translation slot under a post but the results are hilarious when the initial post is in an African language like Luganda and is translated into English. It seems funny in the beginning but kind of discourages users from clicking the translate icon again.
It is advisable that a professional translation companies are approached for any kind of translation work; this could be translation, transcription, subtitling or interpreting when it comes to African Languages Interpreting Services.
It is in such companies that one finds experiences and qualified interpreters especially those specific to the client’s language of interest. Since there are over 1500 languages in Africa, it is paramount that the interpreter has the desired language as their mother tongue. This is important because interpreting is successful when done within context and observing the mannerisms and characteristics of a language spoken by people from a certain region. For example; the Afrikaans in South Africa differs a little from that of Namibia and Swahili in Tanzania defers from that spoken in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
By Angela Kyolaba
For professional services African Languages Interpreting Services click here
