Sesotho on internet

2003-07-03 23:26

Johannesburg - A free Northern Sotho-English dictionary is now available on the internet, thanks to four people in Pretoria who are voluntarily giving their time and dipping into their own pockets to make it possible.

The group responsible for the website said in a statement that its recent launch made this the first online African-language dictionary. The site includes a feedback form, inviting users to send comments and suggestion to the creators.

Information technology man David Joffe, African languages Professor Danie Prinsloo and researcher Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, who is from Belgium, are responsible for the 25 000 words of Northern Sotho-English dictionary on www.africanlanguages.com/sdp/.

They have now been joined by a fourth person, Salmina Nong, who is already busy revising the first version of the dictionary and also expanding it.

Northern Sotho - Sesotho sa Leboa, sometimes called Sepedi - is used as a home language by about four million South Africans and is spoken mostly in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. It is related to Sesotho (Southern Sotho) and Setswana.

Joffe told Sapa on Thursday that the online dictionary was the result of their feeling that there was no culture in South Africa of promoting African languages.

"We want to change that," he said.

They would like to publish a book version of the dictionary too, as well as doing the same in other African languages.

They are working on the dictionary in their spare time. Prinsloo and De Schryver are attached to the University of Pretoria, but since they receive no funding, have to take it slowly.

Joffe said that the group, under the auspices of their organisation TswaneDJe, a human language technology development body, were thinking of advertising on the web site, which would "basically be a form of sponsorship".

They have worked on the project for a few years.

The group believes that creating and publishing terminology was crucial for the development of a language and for its use in education and business.

The online dictionary thus includes a section with a further 310 entries on linguistics (study of language).

"We believe South Africans need resources such as this, and need to know about them. We hope that this may encourage more people to become interested not only in the languages spoken by those around them, but also in their own languages," they said in a statement.

The lack of resources in the multilingual South Africa made it difficult for people to develop their interests and especially for mother-tongue speakers of African languages who wish to learn English, they said.

- SAPA