Google Africa is looking for volunteers who are passionate about Chichewa and would like to participate in the translation of Google products to Chichewa, starting with the Google web search interface. If you are interested, please give me a shout. Those of you who have subscribed to this blog by email can express your interest in this exercise by simply replying the email.
Some time back, Edmond Kachale, a Lilongwe based software developer, started doing this work as one of his pastime activities.
But there is a need for more people. More than 1,950 strings have to be translated for the search interface. There are issues of terminology standardization to be considered.
You may wish to take look at the Ugandan volunteer team that finished translating Google.co.ug into Luganda sometime last year.
The Google Africa Community Translation Site, which showcases and shares insights from volunteer translators and reviewers across Africa, is also available.
Related posts:
- Google ahead of Microsoft only in search? More facts needed!
- Popular search engines know me :)
- The English-Chichewa (EC) and Chichewa-English (CE) Dictionary Project has its own website
- First edition of the combined Chichewa-to-English and English-to-Chichewa dictionary released
- Searchboth.com becomes Search-all-over!
- Google loses ground in China as Baidu sets an example for other nations
14 users commented in " Google web search in Chichewa "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHi Clement,
i’ll try posting this message in the Chichewa flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/chichewa/pool/
and in the Malawi group
http://www.flickr.com/groups/malawi/pool/
tsalani bwino
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Clement Nyirenda says:
February 26th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Thanks. We need as many volunteers as possible so that the work can be concluded in the shortest possible time.
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Fumukale Gondwe says:
June 2nd, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Thanks, we need people like you to make such things move. When need arise I may be available to make some contribution, am also in the IT world professionally.
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Clement Nyirenda says:
March 1st, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Zikomo. We need more volunteers.
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Nice initiative. I may not be a Chichewa language guru but I’m willing to help whenever I can.
.-= Daniso´s last blog ..The woman of Africa =-.
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Clement Nyirenda says:
February 26th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Should I include your name on the list?
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An inspiring story which the bulk of people in the west would never imagine. Perhaps, as technology penetrates, we will all gain more virtual friends on blogs, forums and email.
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I am interested. I am passionate about it. Include me please. This is excting!
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Clement Nyirenda says:
May 19th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
This exercise is now finished. But I will let you know when new tasks arise.
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Why didn’t Google hired someone from Africa and paid them to translate instead of looking for volunteers?
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Why volunteers? Google is such a big and wealthy corporation that it’s a shame they need volunteers instead of professional translators.
Jazz Jack´s last [type] ..Mangan w wodzie szkodzi
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You would think that with googles deep pockets that they would just hire some professionals, or even pay anyone that has offered to volunteer so far.
Brian´s last [type] ..Is Dating an Admitted Alcoholic a Good Idea
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Same question. I don’t understand why Google is asking for volunteer rather when it is a professional company rather than an open project LOL.
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Google just needs to stop being cheap and put a fraction of what they make into this program. Thats my 2 cents at least
Michael´s last [type] ..The Rock Returns 2011 – Can You Smell What The Rock Is Cooking
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