Official Google Africa Blog: August 2022

Giving African languages more Latin font choices

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Questrial font includes African Latin and Vietnamese, more than 1346 glyphs

African languages are underrepresented in digital communications because there are few open source Pan-African fonts that contain all of the letters and diacritics (or accent) marks that are essential for accurate spelling of African languages.

Proper spelling is vital for communication and language survival, not simply for school tests and competitions. Educational institutions and people require fonts that indicate accurate spelling for each language so pupils may write properly. If students see the same word written with various punctuation marks, they may never learn how to spell. Without consistent spelling, students might mistake similar-looking words with distinct meanings.

These are some examples of words in African languages with similar spellings and different meanings:

fɔ (to say) and fo (to greet) in Bambara
motó (head) and mɔ́tɔ (fire) in Lingala
ọ̀tá (enemy) and ota (bullet) in Yoruba

However, spelling is just part of the problem. With few fonts with Pan-African language support, African publishers used non-Unicode fonts or their own custom encodings in printed materials such as textbooks and newspapers. When publishing moved online, users who didn't have a certain font encoding installed on their computer or device, saw gibberish or boxes instead of the correct letters when reading online publications.

Birth of a font for African languages
To bring a new font choice to digital Africa, Google Fonts commissioned Denis Moyogo Jacquerye (as a language consultant) and Laura Meseguer (as a type designer) to expand the Questrial font to include all letterforms in African languages using the Latin writing system. Questrial is a modern style font for body text and headers on a website and is fitted with past characteristics of great typefaces, making it very readable in any context.

Born in Lubumbashi, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC), to a Congolese mother and a Belgian father, Jacquerye became an expert in African language typefaces after encountering technical restrictions. When he only found a few fonts to type Lingala words on a computer, Jacquerye made a digital keyboard for African languages using the Latin writing system for the DejaVu font project.

How to expand a font to make it Pan-African
Since the original Questrial typeface didn’t have letterforms for African languages, Messeguer had to design new ones. She also changed the overall letter spacing. Jacquerye guided Messeguer on how to change her new letterform designs.

These are some examples of the “before” and “after” letterforms showing Meseguer’s original designs and the modified ones.

1. J Crossed-tail ʝ
This letter represents a palatal implosive consonant, represented by the ʄ IPA symbol.

Before and after uppercase and lowercase J Crossed-tail letterforms on yellow background

The before image shows the wide uppercase and lowercase letters with oval-like loops. The after image shows more narrow uppercase and lowercase letters with rounder loops

2. Ɲ (“n” sound) and Ŋ (“eng” sound)
The “eng” sound is similar to the “ng” in the English words "sing" or "singer".

4 letters in black on a light yellow background and 4 text labels explaining each letter

Meseguer’s initial designs for the upper and lower case Ɲ, Ŋ, ɲ, and ƞ letterforms

After images for the uppercase and lowercase Ɲ, Ŋ, ɲ, and ƞ letterforms

#1 Ɲ, uppercase n with left hook and large-n form
#2 Ŋ, uppercase, with the African large-n form
#3 ɲ, lowercase of Ɲ, with left hook
#4 ƞ, lowercase of Ŋ with descender

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The availability of Questrial and other Pan-African Latin fonts on computers and devices makes content more accessible for people who may struggle with small sized text on printed materials. Low-vision readers can read text on a device or computer and zoom in and enjoy content without straining their eyes and getting headaches.

The task of bringing more African languages online is just beginning. Google Fonts is excited at how much is being accomplished through Questrial. The font is available on Google Fonts. To use Questrial in Google Docs and Google Slides, select “More” in the Fonts menu and type “Questrial” in the search bar. The font supports African Latin and has full coverage of Vietnamese, in addition to all European languages.

Posted by Susanna Zaraysky, Google Fonts Content Strategist

Google’s Noto font has 16 scripts that serve 266 languages spoken in Africa. Some of these languages didn't originate in Africa, such as Gujarati.

Offrir plus de choix de polices latines pour les langues africaines avec Questrial, disponible en alphabet latin panafricain

La police Questrial est disponible en alphabet latin africain et vietnamien, soit près de 1350 nouveaux glyphes

policessignes diacritiques (accents)

fɔ (dire) et fo (accueillir) en bambara

motó (tête) et mɔ́tɔ (feu) en lingala

ọ̀tá (ennemi) et ota (balle) en yoruba

Unicodeencodages personnalisés

Concevoir une police pour les langues africaines
Pour mener à bien le projet d'une nouvelle police répondant aux besoins de l'Afrique connectée, Google Fonts a demandé à Denis Moyogo Jacquerye (consultant linguistique) et Laura Meseguer (dessinatrice de caractères) d'adapter la police Questrial pour qu'elle inclue l'ensemble des lettres des langues africaines utilisant l'alphabet latin. Questrial est une police de style moderne conçue pour le corps de texte et les en-têtes de sites Web. Elle offre des caractéristiques semblables aux plus grandes polices de caractères, afin d'être lisible dans n'importe quel contexte.

Né à Lubumbashi au Zaïre (actuelle la République démocratique du Congo ou RDC) d'une mère congolaise et d'un père belge, Denis Moyogo Jacquerye se spécialise dans les polices de caractères pour les langues africaines après avoir fait face à des contraintes techniques en la matière. Lorsqu'il constate que seules quelques polices permettent de saisir des mots en lingala sur ordinateur, Denis Moyogo Jacquerye conçoit un clavier numérique pour les langues africaines basé sur l'alphabet latin du projet de police DejaVu.

Développer une police dans une optique panafricaine
La police Questrial d'origine ne comportait pas de lettres utilisées dans les langues africaines. Laura Meseguer a donc dû les créer de toutes pièces. En outre, elle a modifié l'espace entre les lettres. Les nouveaux glyphes ont aussi bénéficié des recommandations de correction de Moyogo Jacquerye.

Voici quelques exemples de caractères avant et après leur modification (ébauches de Laura Meseguer et versions modifiées) :

1. J à queue croisée ʝ

Cette lettre correspond à une consonne occlusive injective palatale, représentée par le symbole ʄ dans l'alphabet phonétique international (API).

Image avant/après modification des lettres majuscule et minuscule J à queue croisée, sur fond jaune

Images de la majuscule et de la minuscule ʝ avant modification (majuscule large, boucle de la minuscule ovale) et après modification (majuscule plus étroite, boucle de la minuscule plus arrondie)

2. Ɲ (son "n") and Ŋ (son "ng")

Ŋ se prononce comme "ng" dans l'interjection "bing" ou le mot "parking".

Quatre lettres noires sur fond jaune clair avec leur description respective

Créations d'origine de Laura Meseguer pour les lettres majuscules et minuscules Ɲ, Ŋ, ɲ et ƞ

Quatre lettres noires sur fond jaune clair avec leurs descriptions respectives

Images après modification des lettres Ɲ, Ŋ, ɲ et ƞ

Image nº1 : Ɲ (majuscule en forme de grand n avec crochet à gauche)
Image nº2 : Ŋ (majuscule en forme de grand n africain)
Image nº3 : ɲ (minuscule de Ɲ avec crochet à gauche)
Image nº4 : ƞ (minuscule de Ŋ avec jambage)

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Grâce à Questrial et aux autres polices panafricaines disponibles en alphabet latin sur tout appareil numérique, le contenu devient plus accessible aux lecteurs qui auraient du mal à déchiffrer un texte imprimé en petit corps. Le numérique donne aussi aux lecteurs atteints de déficience visuelle la possibilité de zoomer sur le texte.

La mission visant à développer la présence de contenus numériques en langues africaines ne fait que commencer. Google Fonts est ravi des progrès réalisés grâce à Questrial. Cette police est disponible sur Google Fonts. Pour utiliser Questrial dans Google Docs et Google Slides, sélectionnez "Autres polices" dans le menu des polices, puis saisissez "Questrial" dans la barre de recherche. Outre les langues européennes, cette police inclut l'alphabet latin africain ainsi que l'intégralité des caractères vietnamiens.

Publié par Susanna Zaraysky, experte en stratégie de contenu, Google Fonts

La police Noto de Google inclut 16 alphabets utilisés dans 266 langues parlées en Afrique. Certaines de ces langues ne sont pas originaires de ce continent, comme le gujarati.

Supporting Natural Language Processing (NLP) in Africa

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Language is what connects us to each other and the world around us. While Africa is home to a third of the world's languages, technology is not yet available for many of its languages. This is an important challenge to tackle because language is more than a vehicle for communication. It is also a marker of identity, belonging, and opportunity. This is why we want to make sure you can understand and be understood, in any language of your choosing. It's a significant technical challenge to make this dream a reality, but we’re committed to and working towards this goal.

One of the challenges everyone faces in this space is the scarcity of machine readable language data which can be used to build technology. For many languages, it is difficult to find or it simply does not exist. Diversity gaps in Natural Language Processing (NLP) education and academia also narrow representation among language technologists working on lesser-resourced languages. Democratizing access to underrepresented languages data and increasing NLP education helps drive NLP research and advance language technology.

As part of our continued commitment and investment in digital transformation in Africa, Google teams have been working on programs to advance language technologies that serve the region, such as: adding 24 new languages to Google Translate earlier at I/O (including Bambara, Ewe, Krio, Lingala, Luganda, Tsonga and Twi), researching how to build speech recognition in African languages, and supporting local researchers through initiatives like Lacuna Fund. Community initiatives launched in India expanded to Africa, resulting in open-sourced crowdsourced datasets for speech applications in Nigerian English and Yoruba, and new community initiatives and workshops like Explore ML with Crowdsource are gaining momentum in multiple African countries. We also hosted our first community workshop in the field of NLP and African languages in our growing AI research center in Ghana, which is also looking into how to advance NLP for African languages.

One more recent example of our language initiatives in the continent comes from a partnership with Africans to invest in African languages and NLP technology: in collaboration with Zindi, a social enterprise and professional network for data science we organized a series of Natural Language Processing (NLP) hackathons in Africa. The series included an Africa Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) workshop and three hackathon challenges centered on model training for speech recognition, sentiment analysis, and speech data collection.

The interactive workshop aimed to increase awareness and skills for NLP in Africa, especially among researchers, students, and data scientists new to NLP. The workshop provided a beginner-friendly introduction to NLP and ASR, including a step by step guide on how to train a speech model for a new language. Participants also learned about the challenges and progress of work in the Africa NLP space and opportunities to get involved with data science and grow their careers.

In the Intro to Speech Recognition Africa Challenge, participants collected speech data for African languages and trained their own speech recognition models with it. This challenge generated new datasets in African languages, including the open-source datasets released by the challenge winners in Fongbe, Wolof, Swahili, Baule, Dendi, Chichewa and Khartoum Arabic, which enables further research, collaboration, and development of technology for these languages.

We partnered with Data Scientists Network (DSN) to organize the West Africa Speech Recognition Challenge, which according to Toyin Adekanmbi, the Executive Director of DSN, gave participants an “immersive experience to sharpen their skills as they learned to solve local problems”. Participants worked to train their own speech-recognition model for Hausa, spoken by an estimated 72 million people, using open source data from the Mozilla Common Voice platform.

In the Swahili Social Media Sentiment Analysis Challenge, held across Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, participants open sourced solutions of models that classified if the sentiment of a tweet was positive, negative, or neutral. These challenges allowed participants with similar interests to connect with each other in a supported environment and improve their machine learning and NLP skills.

Our focus to empower people to use technology in the language of their choice continues and, across many teams, we are on a mission to advance language technologies for African languages and increase NLP skills and education in the region, so that we can collectively build a world that is truly accessible for everyone, irrespective of the language they speak.

Posted by Connie Tao & Clara Rivera, Program Managers for Google AI

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Announcing the Redefining Womanhood online exhibition on Google Arts & Culture

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Editor's note:
Towela 'Kams' Tembo, a photographer and African Leadership Academy alumnus, contributed today's post. She writes about the Redefining Womanhood exhibition on Google Arts and Culture, which pays tribute to the 20,000 South African women whose efforts set the groundwork for today's young women's empowerment.

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Redefining Womanhoodcurated stories200 artworks

Yassmine Boulam, Lost, 2021
Painting
Yassmine Boualam takes us on a journey of self-discovery through her art, and the therapeutic aspect of painting which guided her journey of finding peace within herself. For fellow artist, Daniella Nanziri painting is used to communicate the body-image issues young women face today while simultaneously celebrating beauty once loathed. In both cases, the artists’ creativity as well as intentionality in women empowerment is evident in their self-reflection as the driving force behind the canvas.

Tracey Keza, Hijabs and Hoodies — 1, 2019

Photography
As a photographer myself, photography has always been an incredible tool in probing our place in the world and how we relate to each other. I was inspired by the stories and themes other ALA graduates courageously pinned in their submissions. For example, Rwandan-based photographer Tracey Keza, in her series Hijabs and Hoodies, uses portraiture to zoom into identity politics, culture and conservation, beautifully profiled in the story We Will Not Be Silenced . For me, sharing a photo series titled Colorism: Shades of Africa that brought to the surface the prevailing social pandemic of colourism and its effect on different girls (and boys) in Africa and beyond signified stories that I believe are of vital importance to our youth and society.

Makenna Muigai, Still from the film Experience, 2021

Sound
Makenna Muigai’s Experience film is a profound example of the cathartic effects of violin sounds - the highs and lows therein - that act as a metaphor for the peaks and valleys of womanhood itself. Taking their own spin on the power of music, Erika Kimani & Tanaka Chikati both use the ‘Mbira’, a Zimbabwean instrument traditionally played by men, as a gateway into the past which triggers an intense recollection of memories and explores the theory of reincarnation. By doing this, all three women create an agenda for their art - one that pays homage to their personal encounters with womanhood.

Get inspired by many more young creative women on our African Leadership Academy page now available on Google Arts & Culture and on the iOS and Android App.

Posted by Towela ‘Kams’ Tembo, African Leadership Academy graduate

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Supporting Small Businesses and Youth-led Startups in Africa

Monday, August 1, 2022

En Français Editor’s note: H.E Albert Muchanga, African Union Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry, and Minerals, contributed today's piece. He writes about a new relationship between the African Union Commission and Google aimed at supporting small enterprises and youth-led startups across the continent.

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AU Commissioner Albert Muchanga and Google Government Affairs & Public Policy Director for Sub-Saharan Africa Charles Murito signing an agreement of collaboration

A dynamic SMB and startup landscape drive the tech ecosystem in Africa and entrepreneurship is a key driver of economic growth. Across the continent, small and medium businesses (SMBs) can comprise roughly 80% of the workforce. In Nigeria and Kenya for example, SMBs contribute to 84% of all local jobs and in South Africa, SMBs contribute to 52% of the country's GDP. In 2021, startups raised over $4 billion and they employed over half of Africa’s software developers. Simply put, these startups and SMBs are the backbone of African economies. They are resolving some of Africa's most pressing challenges, including the inability of isolated communities to access healthcare, the lack of work prospects for women, and the ability to securely send and receive money. These entrepreneurs and startups have the potential to expand the African internet economy to $180 billion by opening up opportunities to reach new customers via e-commerce with better access to technology and digital training.

Last week, at the AU Private Sector Forum, government officials, civil society experts, and private sector representatives focused on establishing meaningful ways to support youth, given that Africa has the world’s youngest, fastest-growing, and most urbanized workforce. Africa will be home to one-third of the world's young (aged 15 to 35) by 2050. The future of the world’s workforce will clearly come from Africa, and we are pleased that our collaboration with Google is enabling us to better support them.

Youth entrepreneurs and women-led firms were given a master class on how to effectively present their creative business concepts in order to get investment. A startup pitch competition to uncover Africa's Next Unicorn (a company valued at $1 billion) was also conducted.

Photo of the youth and women-led SMB participants in Google’s Masterclass.

Moving beyond the Forum, the collaboration with Google will allow youth-led startups and small and medium enterprises across Africa to identify new markets, bring their businesses online, access financing opportunities, and pitch for success through programs such as the Hustle Academy and the Google for Startups Accelerator program.

In 2017, Google launched its Grow with Google initiative with a commitment to train 10 million young Africans and small businesses in digital skills. To date, Google has trained over 6 million people across 25 African countries, with over 60% of participants experiencing growth in their career and/or business as a result. Our hope is that this collaboration with the African Union will help to expand the reach of these programs to the 55 member states.

From a policy perspective, robust collaboration between the private and public sectors is critical to ensuring that African entrepreneurs thrive, not only in our home countries and regions, but in the global marketplace. This is why we are also working together with Google to develop policies, such as national startup and SMB legislation, to create a regulatory environment that will sustain economic growth by turning African countries into Digital Sprinters and advance Agenda 2063 aspirations to create the Africa we want.

H.E Albert Muchanga, African Union Commissioner, Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals

La Commission de l'Union Africaine lance une collaboration sur la transformation numérique
Mot de l’éditeur: Son Excellence Albert Muchanga, le commissaire de l'Union africaine pour le développement économique, le commerce, le tourisme, l'industrie et les minéraux, a contribué à l'article d'aujourd'hui. Il écrit sur une nouvelle relation entre la Commission de l'Union africaine et Google visant à soutenir les petites entreprises et les startups dirigées par des jeunes à travers le continent.

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La semaine dernière, lors du 13e Forum du secteur privé de l'Union africaine à Lusaka, en Zambie, j'ai eu le plaisir de signer un protocole d'accord au nom de la Commission de l'Union africaine avec Google pour commémorer notre engagement à accélérer la transformation numérique dans les 55 pays membres. En tant que premier accord de ce type entre le Département du développement économique, du commerce, du tourisme, de l'industrie et des minéraux de l'Union africaine et une société américaine, nous espérons que ce nouveau partenariat nous permettra d' atteindre deux objectifs : premièrement, donner aux petites et moyennes des entreprises de grande taille, et deuxièmement, établir des politiques qui favorisent la croissance des entreprises pour le développement du secteur privé dans toute l'Afrique.

Photo du commissaire de l'UA Albert Muchanga et du directeur des affaires gouvernementales et des politiques publiques de Google pour l'Afrique subsaharienne, Charles Murito, signant un accord de collaboration

Un paysage dynamique de PME et de startups est le moteur de l'écosystème technologique en Afrique et l'entrepreneuriat est un moteur clé de la croissance économique. À travers le continent, les petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) peuvent représenter environ 80 % de la main-d'œuvre. Au Nigeria et au Kenya par exemple, les PME contribuent à 84 % de tous les emplois locaux et en Afrique du Sud, les PME contribuent à 52 % du PIB du pays. En 2021, les startups ont levé plus de 4 milliards de dollars et elles ont employé plus de la moitié des développeurs de logiciels africains. En termes simples, ces startups et PME sont l'épine dorsale des économies africaines. Ils résolvent certains des défis les plus urgents de l'Afrique, notamment l'incapacité des communautés isolées à accéder aux soins de santé, le manque de perspectives d'emploi pour les femmes et la capacité d'envoyer et de recevoir de l'argent en toute sécurité. Ces entrepreneurs et startups ont le potentiel d'étendre l'économie Internet africaine à 180 milliards en ouvrant des opportunités pour atteindre de nouveaux clients via le commerce électronique avec un meilleur accès à la technologie et à la formation numérique.

La semaine dernière, lors du Forum du secteur privé de l'UA, des responsables gouvernementaux, des experts de la société civile et des représentants du secteur privé se sont concentrés sur la mise en place de moyens significatifs pour soutenir les jeunes, étant donné que l'Afrique possède la main-d'œuvre la plus jeune, la plus dynamique et la plus urbanisée au monde. L'Afrique abritera un tiers des jeunes du monde (âgés de 15 à 35 ans) d'ici 2050. L'avenir de la main-d'œuvre mondiale viendra clairement d'Afrique, et nous sommes heureux que notre collaboration avec Google nous permette de mieux les accompagner.

Les jeunes entrepreneurs et les entreprises dirigées par des femmes ont reçu une classe de maître sur la manière de présenter efficacement leurs concepts commerciaux créatifs afin d'obtenir des investissements. Un concours de lancement de startups pour découvrir la prochaine licorne africaine (une entreprise évaluée à 1 milliard de dollars) a également été organisé.

Photo des participants de PME dirigées par des jeunes et des femmes à la Masterclass de Google.

Au-delà du Forum, la collaboration avec Google permettra aux startups et aux petites et moyennes entreprises dirigées par des jeunes à travers l'Afrique d'identifier de nouveaux marchés, de mettre leurs entreprises en ligne, d'accéder à des opportunités de financement et de présenter leur réussite grâce à des programmes tels que Hustle Academy et le programme d'accélération Google Pour Startups.

En 2017, Google a lancé son initiative Grow with Google avec l'engagement de former 10 millions de jeunes Africains et de petites entreprises aux compétences numériques. À ce jour, Google a formé plus de 6 millions de personnes dans 25 pays africains, et plus de 60 % des participants ont ainsi vu leur carrière et/ou leur activité progresser. Notre espoir est que cette collaboration avec l'Union africaine contribuera à étendre la portée de ces programmes aux 55 États membres.

D'un point de vue politique, une collaboration solide entre les secteurs privé et public est essentielle pour garantir la prospérité, non seulement dans nos pays d'origine et régions, mais sur le marché mondial. C'est pourquoi nous collaborons également avec Google pour élaborer des politiques, telles que la législation nationale sur les startups et les PME, afin de créer un environnement réglementaire qui soutiendra la croissance économique en transformant les pays africains en Sprinteurs Numériques et fera progresser les aspirations de l'Agenda 2063 pour créer l'Afrique que nous voulons.

H.E Albert Muchanga, African Union Commissioner, Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals

Africa Blog

Giving African languages more Latin font choices

Supporting Natural Language Processing (NLP) in Africa

Announcing the Redefining Womanhood online exhibition on Google Arts & Culture

Supporting Small Businesses and Youth-led Startups in Africa

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