AFRICAN LANGUAGES IN GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE

Dear Readers,
I found the attached a worthwhile proposition that should be vigorously pursued by all and sundry. African scholars or linguists, I believe this is the moment for you to make your contributions. It may be an opportunity for those African communities that have their scripts to see how they could be represented. Remember many African languages are literally dying with modernism. One way to rescue them is to communicate in them by African literati. I read the cited and became excited and want to highlight here for my readers who may be interested:


"Recently, two major organizations have become interested in this project: UNESCO and Google. UNESCO will be highlighting the 100 African Locales initiative as a part of the International Mother Tongue Day, which is February 20. Will your favorite African language be ready to be included in that day? If you would like your language to be recognized by UNESCO (part of the United Nations), please write to

"The other exciting news is that Google has been encouraging us to complete the data as soon as possible, and has volunteered their staff to help on the technical end. Why? Because they want to create search interfaces for more African languages, and they want to be able to recognize the language that a document is written in so that they can provide customized services for African users. This is just one indication of the possibilities that a completed locale will open up for your language.

"Now is the moment when we can prepare a lot of African languages to be part of the information technology age. It's up to us. Can you help?"

What do you think? There are no longer outsiders telling your children that vernaculars are abomination. They all understand that one language dying or dead is a lost to the global heritage. So, let us make our contribution.
Dr. Viban Viban Ngo.

Amazing details of the Google satellite map of Africa and the rest of the world.
Even Kumbo and Nso proper could be seen and cars discerned on the streets. Look at BBH, St. Theresia's Cathedrale and semi-prep school, the former Empire Stadium at Shisong (Mission Station), River of the Bui meandering. Gorgeous verdure and detailed land use. Some maps could be produced using this base. However, I am not sure of copyright? Are users allowed to use part of it for review or private purposes? I will be interested if any staff of Google or any other person with expertise in this field enlighten my readers.



Dr. Viban Viban Ngo.