Swahili now becomes the first African language to get Twitter recognition.
Twitter users around the world will soon be able to read tweets
posted in Swahili, the most spoken language in East and some parts of
central Africa.
This is after the social media platform recognised the language and enabled its translation.
It
comes after blitz campaigns on the social networking site, led by
Kenyans, using hashtags #SwahiliIsNotIndonesian and
#TwitterRecognizeSwahili.
Previously tweets in Swahili were recognised as Indonesian and translated into unintelligible language.
Swahili now becomes the first African language to get Twitter recognition.
Twitter only supports 34 languages, none of which has been African.
Most tweets in native African languages are recognised as
Indonesian, a situation that has led to an online campaign aimed at
pushing for the recognition of African languages with the hashtag
#AfricanLanguagesMatter and #AfricanLanguagesDay.
Swahili
is an official language in Kenya and Tanzania and widely spoken in
Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Comoros
Islands.
Plans are underway to make it an official language in all East African Community member states.
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