October 2002

News Headline

Xhosa web browser downloadable NOW!
Complete office suite available in Xhosa, Zulu and Venda
Why the translation is so important

Translate.org.za is making great strides forward under the banner of the
Zuza Software Foundation, translating computer software into the eleven
official languages of South Africa. Current languages include Xhosa,
Zulu, Venda, Northern Sotho, Siswati and Tswana. Visit
http://www.translate.org.za for more details.

Mozilla Web Browser released in Xhosa, Zulu and four other languages

The opensource web browser and mail client, Mozilla, has been translated
into the following six languages: Xhosa, Zulu, Venda, Northern
Sotho, Siswati and Tswana. For a sneak preview visit
http://www.translate.org.za/screenshots.php. Mozilla runs on Windows,
Linux and the Apple Mac making it immediately useful for any computer
user. It consists of the most standards compliant web browser, a
sophisticated email client, and an html editor.

Download Mozilla for Windows from
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.1/mozilla-win32-1.1-installer.exe
For other platform visit http://www.mozilla.org/releases/#1.1

Then visit http://www.translate.org.za/progress.php to download the
language packages that you need.

KOffice 1.2 Office Suite released in Xhosa, Zulu and Venda

This is first in South Africa. This release has made history. While
working on the translation and racing to meet deadlines, we did not
realise just how significant this version of KOffice was. Some
commercial office suites have been released in Afrikaans in the past,
but certainly most of the popluar office suites were only available in
English. Without fanfare, we have provided an office suite in not only
one but three of the official languages. This is momentous! The software
is available for download.
Visit http://www.koffice.org/announcements/announce-1.2.phtml for more
information.

Why is this translation so important?

This project is key to transformation in our country where language is a
highly sensitive issue. Neville Alexander states that "... language
policy and practice in our post-apartheid society is a criticial
component of the ensemble of anti-racism strategies on which we depend
for the real and visible transformation of this country." The opensource
philosophy lends itself to making technology available to the masses. No
commercial software vendors have adequately addressed the language issue
in South Africa, but in one year the opensource community has. Director
of the project, Dwayne Bailey explains, "In South Africa many languages
have been marginalised through the history of apartheid which has led to
a lack of language pride. Seeing Linux users working in German and
French environments made me realise that this could do the same for
South African languages. I hope that simply allowing people to use the
computer in their mother tongue will stimulate pride in their language
... plus the fact that learning something in your mother tongue is
naturally easier."

Once those projects are mature, the team will look beyond their borders
to other parts of the African continent. "Open source provides a way
for Africans to help themselves - not to have to wait for the first
world - but to get up and do it themselves! Nobody else is going to
translate software into Swahili." Says Bailey. Obviously the issues that
surround language, inequality and poverty are broad and impact every
sphere of life, but Zuza aims to play their part. "Translation does not
remove all barriers to computer access", says Bailey, "but it helps to
eliminate one. This together with low cost computers, open source
software and low cost Internet access will go a long way to making a
dramatic IT impact on South Africans, especially the disadvantaged."

Once those projects are mature, the team will look beyond their borders
to other parts of the African continent. "Open source provides a way for
Africans to help themselves - not to have to wait for the first world -
but to get up and do it for themselves! Nobody else is going to
translate software into Swahili." Says Bailey. Obviously the issues that
surround language, inequality and poverty are broad and impact every
sphere of life, but Zuza aims to play their part. "Translation does not
remove all barriers to computer access", says Bailey, "but it helps to
eliminate one. This together with low cost computers, open source
software and low cost Internet access will go a long way to making a
dramatic IT impact on South Africans, especially the disadvantaged."

*Thank you for your ongoing interest in this project. Please forward
this newsletter to people that you feel may be interested in this
initiative.*

Project Sponsors

The Shuttleworth Foundation: http://www.tsf.org.za
Obsidian Systems: http://www.obsidian.co.za

Contact details

*Dwayne Bailey: Project Director - This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
<mailto: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it >, (021) 448 9265
Thobile Mhlongo: Lead Translator - This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
<mailto: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it >, (021) 448 7827

< Prev		Next >