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| African languages map by Steven Huffman via VividMaps |
The
short answer was always their importance for development communication
and cultural understanding in Africa. The application of technology to African languages followed logically from that. These are, of course, themes I've explored in this blog, and written and spoken on over the years.
After one such "why African languages" question 11 years ago, I began to compose a longer answer going back to my
experiences living and working in West Africa with the Peace Corps (PC) during the 1980s.
I was first in Togo (1979-81), then Mali (1983-85) followed by Guinea
(1985-87). In each of those settings I learned more - and like to think I
understood more - about the region and living and working there. As the journey progressed, I compiled a Fulfulde dictionary from the mid-1980s thorough 1993,
researched African language resources, and was a FLAS scholar in Bambara
during the 1990s. Later I returned to PC as an associate director in Niger. I worked on African language localization on the side and full-time during the 2000s,
and retain an active interest in all of the above.
At each of those stages, there's more to tell, Some of that I've mentioned in various posts, but up until now, I haven't really tried to recount the whole story - or stories,
really. So, at least for a while, I'll be posting here in more of an autobiographical mode, which is kind of how Beyond Niamey started.
The original draft from a decade ago has split into several posts, which will follow, chronologically. Ultimately I hope to get to some reflections on the role of a non-African in advocacy for African languages (per the previous post,
The next post will begin before the beginning of the journey outlined above, with my early interest in Arabic. While that interest did not lead to any fluency, it did accompany my experience with learning and using languages of the West Africa. (I recently resumed study of the language.)
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