Microsoft plans to make its newly-released Windows 7 operating system available in 10 African languages - including five of South Africa's official languages - by the end of 2011.

Vis Naidoo, of Microsoft South Africa, said computer technology in local languages offers more opportunities. "UNESCO-funded research in 2006 showed that development and learning is only possible through languages familiar to the people. There's tremendous empowerment in working in your own language," said Naidoo in a report in itnewsafrica.com.

Naidoo added: "Translation teams from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia have already started translating Windows 7 and the upcoming Office 2010 productivity suite into languages like Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Afrikaans, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, kiSwahili and Amharic."

The report said in South Africa, the Microsoft LLP team has worked closely with government, universities and local language experts like the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) and Web-lingo to create freely downloadable language interface packs (LIPs) so that indigenous language speakers can access Office 2007, Windows Vista and XP in their mother tongue - isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho sa Leboa and Afrikaans.

"Translating software to an indigenous language means more than just linguistic translation. Localisation - adapting to a particular language, culture and preferred ‘look and feel'- requires that idiomatic expressions be adjusted so the software appears as if it were first developed within the local culture," said Sihawukele Ngubane, Chair Professor at PanSALB.

Direct translations
The implementation of the isiZulu version of the Microsoft Local Language Programme Interface enables KwaZulu-Natal'sKwaDukuza Resource Centre - the country's biggest digital village - to provide computer literacy training in local vernacular for members of the rural community. For the learners at the centre, this could not have happened at a better time.

"There are an estimated 13 million native isiZulu speakers in South Africa, more than 10 million of whom live in and around the KwaZulu-Natal province. As South Africa's 11th official language, isiZulu is the most widely spoken first language in South Africa (almost 24% of the total population) as opposed to the 8,2% whose first language is English," said Alan Govender, the centre manager.

"The isiZulu interface has been wonderful for us as it has brought more people from the rural areas to our centre, enabling them to make use of the programmes we offer. It allows people who are literate in isiZulu - but not English - to finally learn and understand the workings of a computer in their own language."

Microsoft plans to translate Windows 7 and Office 2010 into 59 local languages by the end of 2011. Its most popular software packages have already been translated into 101 languages - including include Azeri, Georgian, Macedonian, Uzbek, Bosnian, Punjabi and Kyrgyz.

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