The English Language may have saved the Trapped Thai Soccer Team

Adul Sam-on maybe one of the reasons as to why the soccer team of 12 teenagers with their 25 year old coach were rescued this week after being trapped in a cave obscured by flooding for a total of 18 days! It turns out as the only English speaking one in the trapped team, he managed to ease communication with the British divers as he communicated to both sides in languages they understand best which are; English for the divers and Thai for the trapped team. In fact the Daily Mail referred to him as “the sole communicator”.

Apart from the ongoing 2018 Russia World Cup the trapped soccer team has been the major headlines all over the world as good willed people from all over the world offered and volunteered their skills, time and resources to not only try to keep the trapped team alive but to also finally get them out of the damned cave.

Why the English Language could be the most important

English could be after all the most important language in the whole world; not the most spoken but most important. One of the reasons maybe because while other mega languages are spoken by multitudes of people who live in the same geographical areas or neighboring communities, English on the other hand is pretty widespread. There may be chances that the English language is spoken or understood by some people from every corner of the earth.

The mega languages spoken most but usually concentrate in a certain geographical are apart from a few of the speakers in the diaspora include Mandarin, Arabic and Russian to mention a few. Chinese or Mandarin is spoken by 1.2 billion people mainly in China with Spanish having over 400 million speakers.

Other common Languages include;

Arabic the language of Arabs with its various variations is spoken in Arab nations in the Middle East and Northern Africa although it is the default language or second/third language adopted by Muslims all over the world. Arabic happens to be the language in which the Quran which is the holy book for Islam is written and is the religion’s language of instruction. Countries where Arabic is the order of the day include; Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya, Sudan, Algeria, Yemen, Oman and Morocco to mention a few. This sacred language boasts of 250 million speakers.

What makes it special?

For some reason the English language is at least taught ass a lesson in almost every school in the world, even in those countries where English is not an official or national language. In fact even in countries where the English language is not a priority, it is still of major importance in the so called International schools. These are schools in countries where children of expatriates go and those of the rich go to; these could be children of ministers, governors, ambassadors, presidents or leading businessmen. The English Language boasts of about 360 million speakers all over the world.

By Angela Kyolaba

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Why African Website Translation Services are Necessary

There is a possibility that potential customers and consumers of a particular product or service especially in Africa visit other websites other than their favorite for purchase of products because those websites are using a language that they understand best thus making African Website Translation Services a pre-requisite.

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Why African Website Translation Services are Necessary

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The Russia World Cup Rainbow of Languages

After Croatia lost to Brazil at the opening match at the Russia World Cup, Vedran Corluka, a Croatian player complained that he did not understand what the referee was saying as the latter was speaking Japanese at the ongoing Russia World Cup Rainbow of Languages!

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The Russia World Cup Rainbow of Languages

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African English Language in the Gold Coast Common Wealth Games

While English is what the Common Wealth countries have in common, there are lots of the African English Language varieties spoken by the African countries taking part in this year’s Gold Coast Common Wealth games!

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African English Language in the Gold Coast Common Wealth Games

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Why Professional Transcription Services for NGOs in Africa is a road to effective communication

While NGOs on a large scale are heaven sent to those in dire situations in Africa where they and are still availing free basic needs to poor or disadvantaged communities like food, shelter, security, free education to mention a few, the needs are further effectively communicated with the presence of professional Transcription services for NGOs in Africa.

As per languages, transcription refers to the act of transferring a recorded message into print form; this could be a video or audio. In the case of NGOs, there are those still relying on the interpreter’s ability alone to portray what the victim says which hinders effective communication at times.

Figures supporting Professional Transcription Services for NGOs in Africa

Africa has 54 countries with most of them belonging to the Developing countries basket where the biggest number of people is impoverished without the basic needs thus having lots of the people not being able to attain free education, shelter or food. Therefore, loads and tones of NGOs flock to the continent to lend an assisting hand with international supporters dishing out over $50 b each year.

It is for example documented that between the years 1997 and 2006, the number of NGOs in Kenya increased by a whopping 400%! With South Africa which is the 3^rd most developed country in Africa registering 100,000 of them.

Transcription in Africa

Yes some NGO’s do use transcription services but it is not so common yet if it was, their services would more efficiently be reached to their targeted communities.

This is what usually happens at times when staff of an NGO want to assess or get information from their targeted audiences; they usually have a set of interpreters and for every question the NGO staff ask, the interpreter in turn asks it to the audience in the language they understand best and vice versa when the audience answers.

This is where some of the NGO staff stop taking whatever feedback received from the interpreters who in turn would at times have left out loads of important information or would have misinformed the audience of NGO staff to what has been said.

Therefore having a different independent transcription provider is essential because this person or company will write down every piece of information as said by the audience, interpreter and main interviewer/NGO staff .This will clearly indicate if there was any miscommunication anywhere and have it corrected so as to convey the exact message in other words accuracy which is key.

Countries with big numbers of NGOs include;

Uganda; is reported to be a huge base for NGOs with a religious leaning because it is estimated to be 84% of Christian faith and its hospitality to refugees from countries like Congo, Burundi and South Sudan.
Kenya
Ethiopia

By Angela Kyolaba

For more information about Professional Transcription Services for NGOs in Africa click here.

How Important is Professional Immigration Translation Services?

Professional Immigration Translation Services is as vital as it should be in this day and era where there are mass movements of people from Developing countries to the Developed ones in search of better lives for them and their families. While some seek to live in these new countries permanently others move simply to find better paying work which they in turn send to their families back home for purposes of building, paying fees for the school going siblings/children back home or simply to avail themselves with basic needs. It is documented that over 400,000 people from Sub Sahara Africa migrated to the U.S between 2010 and the year 2016 alone and that in the year 2017 more 420,000 people from Africa alone moved to Europe more than in the year 2013.

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Why the fuss about African Language Translation?

So, it is in 1837 that the first African Language Translation took place and it was parts of Genesis and Psalms from the good old book; The Bible from the English language to the Zulu language. Zulu is a language from the Southern parts of the African continent spoken and used but not limited to countries like South Africa and Zimbabwe spoken by 24% of the South African population although understood by almost 50% according to Wikipedia. This is the second most spoken Bantu language after the famous Shona language.

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Why the fuss about African Language Translation?

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Is African Languages Blogging Even Possible?

African Languages Blogging is so rare and therefore sites like Jamii Forum, a Tanzanian based site that engages with its visitors in the Swahili language has become popular because it is not an everyday thing.

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Is African Languages Blogging Even Possible?

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Why African Countries Undergo Name changes

So on Wednesday last week the last absolute monarch of Africa; king Mswati of Swaziland stated during a gathering in a stadium marking the nation’s 50^th year of independence that he had changed the name of the country from Swaziland to eSwati meaning the land of the Swazis when translated from Swazi, joining other African Countries that have done so already.

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Why Professional Translations are vital for African Indigenous Languages

Being a linguist is an advantage in Africa as it makes life easier for one as they get to interact more efficiently with less limits unlike for those who only speak one or two African indigenous languages. This is because Africa alone is estimated to have between 1500 to 2000 languages alone.

Having good command of the English language may not be enough in Africa as there are parts where it is Portuguese, French or Arabic working as an official language or second language of the people making communication almost impossible.

Importance of Translation for African Indigenous languages

Like pointed out earlier that Africa has more than 1500 languages, translation is a very important aspect here so as to carry out day to day businesses and to generally run the continent. Translation is important because it eases communication and therefore forges unity among the African countries. That is why interpretation is available at summits, gatherings and meetings with the African Union summits being a very good example because here we see delegates wearing headsets a sign that there are interpreters in the background passing on information to them in the languages they understand best.

However it should be noted that that the translation services ought to be professional especially if it comes to official gatherings, business or if the field involved is a serious one and such fields include; Medical, Academic, Construction, Finance to mention a few. This means one ought to hire a reputable service provider looking at specific attributes.

What to look out for in a Translations Service Provider

Experience; the service provider should have recommendations from official organizations or individuals to ascertain that they have been in the game for long and have carried out satisfactory work for their former clients.

Confidentiality; this too is vital because sometimes clients’ work or documents contains information that light give their rivals an edge if it leaked to the public. This especially for business personnel and therefore a service provider keen on confidentiality is key and here a confidentiality agreement maybe signed between the client and service provider that none of the information shall be disclosed.

Accuracy; this like the above is crucial and this is why native speakers of the languages in question ought to be hired because it is only these who are well versed with the mannerism and characteristics of the language in question. Therefore, the translations, interpretation, subtitling or transcription of African Indigenous Languages is carried out within context having the region where the particular version of the language comes from.

Examples of such professional Translation Services include;

By Angela Kyolaba