20100920
africanews

Internet search giant, Google, has launched the Wolof interface for Google Web Search in Senegal. Forty-five volunteers in collaboration with Google Senegal and the University of Gaston Berger of Saint Louis in northern Senegal teamed up for the translation marathon.

According to the Google Africa blog, the Wolof search addition is in line with the company’s mission to make information universally accessible and useful to millions of Africans.

“The ‘Google in Your Language’ initiative already supports many African languages and now we are taking a more hands-on approach: reaching out to interested universities and other volunteers in the community, training them on our translation tools and holding a fun workshop where volunteers can contribute their translations for Google Web Search in their language, with guidance from language moderators,” the blog added.

Mohamadou El-Hadj Nguer, the professor who led the translation effort, is passionate about efforts to bring Wolof online, and believes that being able to search in Wolof will not only increase the value of writing in Wolof but also create an opportunity for growth of the language on the Internet.

As of today, “Google deggna Wolof” (Google understands Wolof). Check it out at www.google.sn