Africa Blog
Google in Sub-Saharan Africa: news, stories and thoughts
Gmail now speaks Swahili and Amharic
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
En Français
kwa Kiswahili
በአማርኛ
Note: in order to see Ethiopic characters, you will need to install an Ethiopic font on your computer. If you can't see the following ፊደል, then you don't have an Ethiopic font installed. Please install one of the
options listed here
for example.
Although English, French and Portuguese are the official languages used in most African countries, many Africans are in fact more comfortable and eloquent using their indigenous languages, particularly when communicating with friends or when they want to fully express their views. This could not be more evident than in Ethiopia or Tanzania, where Amharic and Swahili are used in every aspect of society -- from studying in school, filling out government forms, to writing an SMS.
The Gmail interface is like your modern-day postal clerk: it helps you organize and control your mail experience, just as interacting with the postal clerk does for regular mail, only a lot faster. Now think - isn’t it great when you can understand your postal clerk and express yourself more clearly to him/her? Well, starting today, Gmail is available in Swahili and Amharic, adapting to over 100M speakers located in East and Central Africa, and in the diaspora.
Switching Gmail to Swahili or Amharic is easy. Once logged into Gmail:
1. Click on the “Settings” link on the top right of the page.
2. Toggle the display language drop down then select Kiswahili or Amharic from the list.
3. Hit save, and voila!
In addition to changing the display language, you can now read and write your email in Swahili or Amharic if you’re more comfortable in these languages. For example, while using the Amharic display, you can turn on
transliteration
to convert letters typed on a regular Roman keyboard to Ethiopic characters instantly. And to read all incoming messages in Swahili, simply turn on the
Message Translation
lab. All messages that aren’t in Swahili will get automatically translated by Google Translate.
No machine translation tool is perfect, but if you are a Swahili speaker who doesn’t understand a word of French, this feature can be quite handy when you need to get the gist of a message.
Whether you are new to email or a veteran, we hope these new language options will be useful, fun and make the internet and email more accessible to a much wider group of people across East Africa. Help us get there -- try it out, recommend it to a friend and send us your feedback via these forums (
Swahili
) (
Amharic
)!
Posted by Denis Gikunda, Localization Manager - African Languages
====
Gmail parle maintenant le swahili et l'amharique
Bien que l'anglais, le français et le portugais soient les langues officielles utilisées dans la plupart des pays africains, beaucoup d'africains sont en fait plus à l'aise et éloquents dans les langues autochtones, en particulier lorsqu’ils communiquent avec des proches ou sur des sujets qui nécessitent l’expression complète de leurs points de vue. Ceci est particulièrement évident en Ethiopie ou enTanzanie, où l'amharique et le swahili sont utilisées dans tous les aspects de la vie - de l'étude à l'école, au remplissage des formulaires de l’état, à l'écriture d'un SMS.
L'interface Gmail est comme votre postier des temps modernes: il vous aide à organiser et contrôler votre expérience mail, tout comme l'interaction avec les agents des postes pour le courrier ordinaire, seulement beaucoup plus rapide. Maintenant, imaginez - ne serait-il pas génial si vous pouviez mieux comprendre votre agent des postes et mieux communiquer avec lui? A partir d'aujourd'hui, Gmail est disponible en swahili et l'amharique, s’adaptant ainsi à plus de 100 millions de personnes situées à l'Est et l'Afrique centrale, et dans la diaspora.
Basculer Gmail en Swahili ou Amharique est facile. Une fois connecté à Gmail:
1. Cliquez sur le lien "Paramètres" en haut à droite de la page.
2. Ouvrez le menu déroulant pour la langue d'affichage de gmail puis sélectionnez le kiswahili ou l’ amharique dans la liste.
3. Cliquez sur “Enregistrer” et voilà!
En plus de changer la langue d'affichage, vous pouvez maintenant lire et écrire votre e-mail en swahili ou en amharique si vous êtes plus à l'aise dans ces langues. Par exemple, lorsque vous utilisez l'affichage en amharique, vous pouvez activer la
transcription
et convertir à la volée les lettres tapées sur un clavier classique en caractères éthiopiens. Et pour lire tous les messages entrants en swahili, il suffit de tourner sur le
laboratoire de traduction de messages
. Tous les messages qui ne sont pas en swahili obtiendrez traduite automatiquement par Google Translate.
Aucun outil de traduction automatique n’est parfait, mais si vous parlez Swahili et pas un mot de d’anglais, cette fonctionnalité est très pratique lorsque vous avez juste besoin de comprendre rapidement l'essentiel d'un message.
Que vous soyez nouveau au courrier électronique ou un vétéran a la recherche de quelque chose de cool et pertinent, nous espérons que ces nouvelles options vous seront utile, amusant, et rendront l'Internet et le courrier électronique plus accessible à un groupe beaucoup plus large de personnes à travers l'Afrique orientale. Aidez-nous à y parvenir - essayer les, recommandez les à vos amis et envoyez-nous vos commentaires par le biais de ces forums (
Swahili
) (
amharique
)!
Denis Gikunda, Responsable Localisation pour les langues africaines
====
Gmail sasa inazungumza Kiswahili na Kiamhariki
Ijapokuwa Kiingereza, Kifaransa na Kireno ndizo lugha rasmi zinazotumiwa katika nchi nyingi za Afrika, waafrika wengi hujisikia huru na huwa na ufasaha zaidi wanapotumia lugha zao za asili, haswa wanapowasiliana na marafiki au wanapotaka kujieleza kikamilifu. Jambo hili linadhihirika zaidi nchini Ethiopia na Tanzania, ambapo lugha za Kiswahili na Kiamhariki zinatumika katika kila kipengele cha jamii - iwe ni kusoma shuleni, kujaza fomu za serikali au kuandika SMS.
Uonyesho wa Gmail ni kama mfanyakazi wa kisasa wa posta: Gmail hukusaidia kupanga na kuthibiti uzoefu wako wa kutuma barua pepe, kama vile tu mfanyakazi wa posta anavyofanya kwa barua za kawaida, ila kwa haraka zaidi. Sasa fikiria, ni jambo zuri kivipi unapoweza kumwelewa mfanyakazi wako wa posta na kujieleza kwake kwa njia safi? Kuanzia leo, Gmail inapatikana kwa Kiswahili na Kiamhariki, ikijumuisha zaidi ya watu milioni 100 wanaozungumza lugha hizi Afrika ya Mashariki na Kati na walio ng’ambo.
Kubadilisha lugha ya Gmail hadi Kiswahili au Kiamhariki ni rahisi. Ukishaingia katika Gmail:
1. Bofya kiungo cha “Settings” kwenye upande wa kulia wa sehemu ya juu ya ukurasa.
2. Geuza lugha ya uonyesho kwenye menyu-kunjuzi na uchague Kiswahili au Kiamhariki kwenye orodha.
3. Bofya ‘save’, na bas!
Zaidi ya kubadilisha lugha yako ya uonyesho, sasa unaweza kusoma na kuandika barua pepe zako kwa Kiswahili au Kiamhariki ikiwa una ufasaha zaidi katika lugha hizi. Kwa mfano, unapotumia uonyesho wa Kiamhariki, unaweza kuwasha unukuzi ili kubadilisha herufi zilizochapwa kwenye kibodi ya kawaida ya Kirumi hadi herufi za Kiethiopia papo hapo. Pia, ili kusoma barua zote zinazoingia kwa Kiswahili, washa majaribio ya
Tafsiri ya Ujumbe
. Barua zote zinazotumwa kwa lugha isiyo Kiswahili zitatafsiriwa hadi Kiswahili kiatomatiki kupitia Google Translate.
Hakuna zana kamilifu ya utafsiri wa mtambo, lakini ikiwa unazungumza Kiswahili na huelewi hata neno moja la Kifaransa, zana hii inaweza kukufaa sana unapohitaji kupata wazo kuu la ujumbe kwa haraka.
Uwe ni mgeni kwa barua pepe au umeshaizoea, tunatumai kuwa chaguo hizi mpya za lugha zitakuwa za manufaa, za kuburudisha na zitawawezesha watu wengi zaidi walio Afrika ya Mashariki na Kati kufikia wavuti na barua pepe. Tusaidie kutimiza lengo hili - zijaribu, zipendekeze kwa marafiki na ututumie maoni yako kupitia kumbi hizi (
Kiswahili
) (
Kiamhariki
)!
Imechapishwa na Denis Gikunda, Meneja wa Miradi ya Utafsiri kwa Lugha za Kiafrika
====
Gmail አሁን ስዋሂሊኛና አማርኛ ይናገራል
ምንም እንኳ በአብዛኛው የአፍሪካ ሀገሮች እንግሊዝኛ ፣ ፈረንሳይኛና ፖርቱጋልኛ የብሔራዊ ቋንቋ ሆነው ቢያገለግሉም ለበርካታ አፍሪካውያን ግን በትውልድ ቋንቋቸው መጠቀም በተለየም ከጓደኞቻቸው ሊወያዩዋቸው ወይም የአመለካከታቸውን ሙሉ ገለፃ በሚፈልጉ አንዳንድ ጉዳዮች ላይ የበለጠ ገላጭና ምቹ ይሆንላቸዋል።
ይህም ጎልቶ የሚታየው እንደ ኢትዮጵያ ወይንም ታንዛኒያ ያሉ ሃገሮች ላይ ሲሆን ፣ አማርኛና ስዋሂሊኛ ለሕብረተሰቡ ከትምህርት ቤት መማሪያነት እና ከመንግስት ቅፆች መሙያነት እስከ ኤስኤምኤስ (SMS) መጻፊያነት ያገለግላሉ።
የGmail በይነገጽ እንደ ዘመኑ ፖስታ ቤት አስተናጋጅ ነው። አሰራሩ ልክ ከፖስታ ቤት አስተናጋጅ ጋር ለመደበኛ ደብዳቤ ጉዳይ ግንኙነት ሲሆን ፍጥነቱ ግን እጅግ የበለጠ ነው። ይህም ኢሜልን በተሻለ ሁኔታ ለማደራጀትና ለመቆጣጠር ያመቻል። አሁን አስተውሉ ፣ ከፖስታ ቤት አስተናጋጅ ጋር ያለዎት ግንኙነትና መግባባት የተሻለ ቢሆንና የበለጠ ሃሳቦትን ለዚሁ አስተናጋጅ መግለጽ ቢችሉ አስደሳች አይሆንም? ዛሬ Gmail በስዋሂሊኛና በአማርኛ ቀርቧል ፤ ይህም ከመቶ ሚሊዮን በላይ ለሚቆጠሩ በምስራቅና በማካከለኛው አፍሪካ ብሎም በዳያስፖራ ለሚገኙ ነዋሪዎች የሚስማማ ይሆናል።
Gmailን ወደ ስዋሂሊኛ ወይንም አማርኛ መቀየር ቀላል ነው። አንዴ Gmail ውስጥ ከገቡ በኋላ፦
1. በስተቀኝ ከወደ ላይ የሚገኘውን «Settings» የሚለውን አገናኝ ይጫኑ።
2. የሚታይበትን ቋንቋ ተቆልቋይ ይቀይሩና Kiswahili ወይንም አማርኛን ከዝርዝሩ ውስጥ ይምረጡ።
3. «save» የሚለውን አዝራር ሲጫኑ የበይነገጹ ቋንቋ ይቀየራል።
በስዋሂሊኛ ወይንም በአማርኛ የበለጠ ምቾት ካለዎት Gmail የሚታይበትን ቋንቋ ከመቀየር ባሻገር ኢሜይልዎትን በነዚህ ቋንቋዎች ማንበብና መጻፍ በአሁን ጊዜ ይችላሉ። ለምሳሌ በይነገጹ በአማርኛ በሚታይበት ጊዜ የቋንቋ ፊደል መፃፊያዎን (ትራንስሊተሬሽን) ባህርይ በማንቃት በመደበኛው የሮማን ቁልፍ ሰሌዳ የተተየቡትን ፊደላት ወደ ኢትዮጵያ ፊደላት ወዲያውኑ መቀየር ይችላሉ። ገቢ መልእክቶችንም በስዋሂሊኛ ለማንበብ የመልእክት ትርጉም ቤተ ሙከራን በቀላሉ ማንቃትና መጠቀም ይቻላሉ። በስዋሂሊኛ ያሉት መልእክቶች በሙሉ በGoogle Translate ይተረጎማሉ።
የትኛውም የትርጉም መሳሪያ እንከን የለሽ የሚባል አይደለም ፤ ነገር ግን የስዋሂሊኛ ተናጋሪ ሆነው ፈረንሳይኛ ባያውቁ ፣ ይህ ባህርይ በመጠቀም የአንድ መልእክትን ፈሬ ሃሳብ በፍጥነት ለማወቅ ምቹ ይሆናል።
ኢሜል አጥቃቀም ከጀመሩ አዲስ ሆኑ የቆዩ እነዚህ አዳዲስ የቋንቋ ባህሪዎች አስደሳች ጠቃሚ በይነመረብንና ኤሜይልን በምስራቅ አፍሪካ ለሚገኘው ሰፊው ህብረተሰብ ተደራሽነት እንደሚሰጧቸው ተስፋ እናደርጋለን። እዛም ለመድረስ እገዛችሁን እንፈልጋለን ፤ ሞክሩት፣ ለጓደኛም ይህን ዜና በማጋራት ተባበሩን እንዲሁም አስተያየቶችዎን በእነዚህ የውይይት መድረኮች ይላኩልን (
ስዋሂሊኛ
) (
አማርኛ
)!
የተጻፈው በዴኒስ ጊኩንዳ - የሎካላይዜሽን ሃላፊ - የአፍሪካ ቋንቋዎች
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