The Long Now Blog


Ideas about Long-term Thinking    Blog Homepage   |   Subscribe in a reader


Frame your Google with Afaan Oromoo

April 8th, 02009 by Laura Welcher

 Google Oromo

Oromo, a language of Ethiopia with about 9,000,000 speakers, now joins languages like Mandarin, English and Spanish — languages with hundreds of millions of speakers — (and yes, Elmer Fudd-speak and Klingon) as the newest addition to Google’s multilingual interface.   This translation effort was made possible by over four years of work by dedicated volunteers using the “Google in Your Language” program.

According to Qeerransoo Biyyaa, one of the Afaan Oromoo translation team members, the translation effort was a huge struggle as a person needs to integrate concepts from technology, language and culture simultaneously. It was sometimes hard to find equivalent technological terms in Oromo or other language from Ethiopia. This is simply because technological terms are as foreign as the technologies themselves to Ethiopia.”

Bravo!  What’s next?  Maybe the Afaan Oromoo Wikipedia

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 1:22 pm and is filed under Rosetta. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Frame your Google with Afaan Oromoo”

  1. Dr. Getachew Jigi Says:

    Posted on April 17th, 2009 at 8:40 am

    Afaan Oromoo Google fi afaan Oromoo Dictionary akka itti fayadamun haala nu mijeessa Gummin Parlama Oromoo Afaan Oromoo, Enyuman Oromoo fi walumagalati Oromoo mirga akka argatuu yaalin goocha turee rakko waan nuti humeef ala banee qoobsooti fufne malee qabeenya fi degersa tokkolee waan hin qabnee. Afaan Oromoo hojeechu, Oromoomumma jajabeesu irrati waan hojeenuuf waan kun nu babachisa. Kanaaf akka itti gargaramnuu nu gargara.

  2. James Says:

    Posted on April 28th, 2009 at 7:24 am

    Just to set the record straight: Oromo is a language of over 50,000,000 Oromo and non- Oromo speakers in Ethiopia, not of 9,000,000 as quoted in the entry above. thanks. So, it is by far one of the most strategic and significant languages in Africa.

  3. Jamal Lolo Says:

    Posted on June 25th, 2009 at 9:38 pm

    I really proud of those who make affaan Oromo globle language. and now it is time to get really to let evry one know fact about Oromo people those more than 50 000 000 millions speakers of affaan Oromo or Oromo People been colonized by Habash of abisinia around 19 century and all the human right abuse. hajji garridha Gallatoma.

  4. siraj Says:

    Posted on January 12th, 2010 at 7:47 am

    certainly, Oromo spraking not 9 million. Between ethiopia and kenya alone, Over 50 millions. The fact that someone trying to underestimate the number of our people make me wonder.
    I am supprised there are not mich traffic on this topic or website about this issue.

  5. Heiko Palm Says:

    Posted on February 25th, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    Over 50 million easily. Don’t try to lower the numbers ‘cos Karma can be very embarassing. ( Not you poster, but your sources )

Leave a Comment

Some Rights Reserved (CC)

The Long Now Foundation
Fostering Long-term Responsibility
est. 01996.