At the 11th Internation conference of Afrilex, the African Association of Lexicography, Translate.org.za presented a paper on the South African keyboard to an excited audience.

 

The conference was held from 3-7 July on the campus of the University of Venda in Thohoyandou in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.

 

Afrilex, an association focussed on the discipline of Lexicography or dictionary creation, seems like a strange place for an organisation focused on localisation to present a paper.  But yet it was not, since the presentation from Translate.org.za focused on the South African keyboard and Lexicographers are people that have to do a lot of typing.  Since the event was held in a Venda speaking area, special emphasis was placed on the Venda aspects of the keyboard.

 

After the talk we were inundated with requests for copies of the keyboard CD and request to install the software on various academic and language practitioners keyboard.  Clearly there is a real need that is not being addressed by people who claim to be promoting African languages.  Translate.org.za was only too happy to help people to stop abusing their own language by typing it incorrectly.