Tanzania: ICT Experts Seek to Promote Use of Kiswahili

Posted on : Friday , 26th August 2016

Dodoma — Information Communication Technology (ICT) experts are meeting here to discuss how Kiswahili could be used as a language of instruction in computers.

A workshop is being hosted by the University of Dodoma's Department of Computer Science and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN). Organisers say they target to eliminate language barriers among local users of internet services.

"The internet has useful information that can change life, but most people use it to only watch pictures and movies because of the language barrier," said Udom assistant lecturer and workshop coordinator Matogoro Jabhera.

He said the workshop had been tailored to impart participants with the requisite skills and ability to add Kiswahili content to the internet and assist local users whose understanding of English is limited.

"We want to translate content to allow small-scale businesspersons, farmers and others to start benefiting," he said.

ICANN manager for stakeholder engagement (Africa), Mr Bob Ochieng, he said it was important to translate English articles into Kiswahili. He said many people across the world have had their lives changed through the use of the internet, but it was not the case in Tanzania.