Regenerating African Languages and Cultures Through Information Technology Strategies

Africa is multilingual and multicultural. However, Africa’s linguistic and cultural wealth faces possible extinction unless developments in information technology are harnessed for the rejuvenation of such languages and culture. This chapter argues that the future of African languages and cultures lies in the development of digital resources such as speech-to-text-to-speech translation technologies, spellcheckers, and mobile dictionaries. The first step in the development of such language technologies has been taken by The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) which is attempting to address the digital gap in African languages. Unexplored possibilities of online radio stations, newspaper, and magazines are exciting platforms through which individual and community creativities could find expression. Developments in social media platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) have also put pressure on African countries to adapt, adopt, and modernize their democracies and consultation processes. In countries such as Botswana, political and ethnic leaders are forced to consider the use of such platforms to consult the public. The chapter therefore discusses various solutions that African communities have to adopt if they are to effectively rejuvenate their languages and cultures.