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.
Apart from the fact that there are more than 1500 languages in Africa, there are many more legit reasons as to why Translation was and is still very important and needful for the sake of effective communication purposes. This is not only the case in Africa but globally African Language Translation is vital so as to market the outside world to Africa and vice versa for purposes of co-existence.
It should be noted that countries especially international businesses can only flourish if there is effective communication, which in turn requires professional translation services because people speak and understand different languages because of geographical boundaries that are sometimes far from each other.
Going back to the fact that there are over 1500 languages and more. Although some of these African languages are mutually ineligible like Xhosa and Zulu and others sound similar like Chichewa from Zambia and Luganda from Uganda and there are those created from other languages and at times act as lingua francas like Afrikaans in South Africa and Swahili that is spoken in so many parts of Africa. Despite the above, African Languages Translation is needful and a need for any message meant for the African continent, be it in the Medical, Academic, Industrial or any other field..
Some sources cite Africa as virgin grounds for lots of economic and social activities and development as we see international chains rushing to open up chains in African countries. This is good News especially because apart from forging diplomacy it also creates jobs for the many unemployed. However for all to go smooth, African Language Translation has to be carried out for better results. Famous international chains that have braved to come to Africa include; H&M, Pizza Hut e.t.c.
By Angela Kyolaba
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