Translate.org.za held a surprise party at UNISA (University of South Africa) to thank the translators who have been involved in the translation of OpenOffice.org into South African languages.

This event gave us the opportunity to recognise Kholisa Phodile (Xhosa) and Shirley Mukhari (Tsonga) for their contribution to Translate.org.za and to their languages. Kholisa gave an impromptu speach during which she described to her friends and colleugues the problems she encountered in translating software, how she had to dig deaply for new words or was surprised to find a word that already existed in Xhosa for the concept she was translating.

We were excited as the participants and other academic staff discussed the possibility of presenting papers on the lessons and experiences of localisation.

Our thanks to Kholisa and Shirley and to the staff of African languages at UNISA who allowed us to interupt their busy marking schedule.