Translate.org.za is a project to localize or translate free and open-source software into the eleven official languages of South Africa. We like to think that we intervene whenever technology fails language. Thus we have created a keyboard to allow Venda speakers to type correctly for the first time. We have developed spell checkers in various languages and translated OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox and other applications into the country’s eleven official languages, a first in South Africa.

Those addressed are computer users whose mother-tongue is not English. In South Africa this is potentially 75 per cent of the population, dependent of course on access to technology. Even those who only use English computers benefit, since a keyboard is universal and easy to use.

Those involved cover two levels. We have fulltime staff who look at the creation of tools to support the community and to manage translations that are done on a contract basis. We have a community of volunteers for each language – some languages have no volunteer community yet. This community does any number of things, from encouragement and debate to translation, testing and distribution and promotion of the translated work.

The communities have been slow to grow but our effort in Pootle (now part of the WordForge project and WordForge Foundation – of which we are founding members) has ensured that we have tools that allow others to be translated remotely. A number of Translate@thons have been held across the country to draw others into the community and we have now begun to collaborate with Rhodes University to translate software into Xhosa.