Computing in Mother Tongue
For all intents and purposes, many of South Africa's indigenous languages are listed among the world's most endangered languages. What this means in simple terms is that many of our languages will most likely become extinct in the near future.
...
Recently, I was asked to give a basic translation into any South African language of my choosing. While I take pride in my language competence and consider myself an expert in my own language, I was reminded of how shameful our people are. When efforts like these come our way, many people, instead of being honest to say they are not equipped to translate to our languages, will happily give substandard work! These are people who themselves hardly speak the language, yet they find it normal to translate into a language they do not speak. This trend is the same with professional translators. While many may have degrees in translation and communication, many simply just translate nonsense.
The result is software that is unusable. I am one of the few people in South Africa who use software in my language, but the standard and quality of translated software is pathetic. This unfortunately has the negative effect that many people end up staying away from using software in their own languages. I have used translated software that even I could not make sense of what was being said in the translations.
I am left wanting to ask, particularly of African intellectuals and professional translators, have we lost all integrity that we cannot tell the truth about our ability to speak (or lack thereof) our languages? We rather produce horrible work that no one will ever use?
Unfortunately, language usage goes hand in hand with its growth and development. A language that is being actively used will grow and develop, and the opposite is true.