Jonathan: Appfrica Labs has done a great deal of work in the localization of software.  It’s our goal to make sure that information is accessible to all.  It was an honor to contribute to something that we know will reach millions across the country and world through Google.co.ug.

Nabireeba James: Being a Google volunteer and translating the interface to our local language will encourage the people who normally fear using computers (regarding them as for educated people only) to take a greater interest in them.

James Olweny: I believe in Language and Culture, as one of the areas in which a nation is supposed to develop (Intellectualization). I believe this will help many people out there whose limitation has been English to positively contribute to the society and to enable them benefit from a wealth of information that they have not lately been able to access. This is also a way to give back to the society that raised me up what belongs to it.

Jonathan: Emmanuel Oluka is quickly becoming an expert on translation and localization of software into Luganda.  He’d recently wrapped up work on a big translation project with another partner and leapt at the opportunity to contribute to Google’s efforts.  He organized a team with in our office and took the leadership role.  Under his guidance, the work was segmented and he and his co-workers set individual milestones to make sure we always met the deadlines.  Emma and Jerry handled the Luganda translations while Barbara handled Runyakitara.

James Olweny: I was one of the translators, translating the source strings from English to Luganda. Also working with a team, I helped encourage the others to keep working while monitoring our progress to ensure the success of this project.

Jonathan: Localization is important because it reduces yet another barrier for entry to people who don’t have access to advanced education or exposure to computers.  Hopefully this will help those people embrace the web and information technology.  Also, many African languages are spoken, and have only recently become written.  As Africa moves into the future with the rest of the world, it’s critical that it’s history and languages are preserved by it’s people.  We’re really passionate about that and it’s one of the main reasons why our tech blog Appfrica.net is published in Luganda as well as other African languages.

James Olweny: Like I said before, many people are going to access information in a way they perceive it best, that is in Luganda, this will in turn make them more productive and also help intellectualize the Language. Some people may wonder if someone will want to access the internet in Luganda, but currently the second most read news paper in Uganda is Bukkedde, a local Luganda news paper.  We also have the localized version of Mozilla Firefox to help the Luganda Google users.

Jonathan: The biggest challenge with Runyakitara, in particular, was that direct translations of certain phrases and words didn’t exist. For instance there was no easy translation for the word ‘website’ so it became ‘webusiti’ which is essentially a phonetic transcription but not a literal translation.  The literal translations don’t make sense, so the easiest solution is to often either literally explain the word in with a short sentence, or just make a phonetic transcription.  The team consulted with each other to make decisions on what solution was best, word for word.

Nabireeba James: During this process I found it hard with some terms that do not exist in Luganda, even some take like the whole sentence to get the equivalent in English i.e. explaining it so that you get the actual meaning of it. So this has been good for me since I went deep to search both in English and Luganda which improved my communication skill in both languages.

James Olweny: Good question, one of the key challenges was dealing scenarios where we had to deal with terms that do not have direct English translations. We had to come up with realistic and meaningful translation for them.  Another key challenge was time, sometimes there is really a lot to be accomplished, but working as a team and the intervention of Appfrica helped speed up the process.

Jonathan: It’s important for African developers to consider the role they play in offering resources like this to their peers.  While it’s also important to work with large multinational companies where it make sense, it’s just as important to start these localization efforts locally.  The idea being that if we don’t do it, how can we expect as much from anyone else.  That said, there are a number of initiatives that could use more support.  Google is asking for volunteers across the world to contribute, websites like Maneno.com and Ted.com crowd source blog and video translations, respectively. AnLoc (www.africanlocalization.net) and the Kamusi.org projects are also looking for volunteers of all African tongues.  Anyone interested in contributing to Uganda’s own translations efforts should contact me directly at j.gosier@appfrica.org and I’ll try to connect you with the right people.