OLPC Nigeria

Languages needed for localization

Q: Which language or languages are needed for localization for use by children in Nigeria please?

A: Nigeria's official language is English along with Edo, Efik, Adamawa Fulfulde, Hausa, Idoma, Igbo, Central Kanuri and Yoruba, but there are more than 250 languages spoken in the country, Ethnologue even lists 510 spoken languages.

Most children learn English, compulsory from primary school onward, and Arabic. They would probably have a better learning experience when taught most topics in their native language. Secondary school is almost exclusevely taught in English. Yoruba is the local language most used in schools, depending on the area, from primary school to university.

There are already localization efforts in Nigeria's major languages, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. These languages use the African Reference Alphabet, which is covered by Unicode but requiring support for composed characters with diacritics (at both input and display level). More information about localization can be found at the PanAfrLoc Wiki. According to L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde, a third of the children between 12 and 17 attend school.

Localization experience

The program Application Program: Test of ability with arithmetic may or may not become produced. The idea is to localize the program into many languages. There are already (2006-05-29) strings of text for English, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish.