ACALAN presented its activities at the Africa Translation Consultants Training Workshop.

The Executive Secretary of the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN), Professor Sozinho Francisco Matsinhe, presented ACALAN’s activities at the Africa Translation Consultants Training Workshop organised by the Bible Society of Mali, at Hotel Mandé, Bamako, from 25 to 29 August, 2014. The workshop brought together experts in translation; with special reference to bible translation from Benin, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa, Togo and Zambia.
Professor Matsinhe presented ACALAN as a “specialised institution of the African Union mandated to develop and promote African languages so that they can be used in all domains of society in partnership with the former colonial languages, English, French and Portuguese.” He underlined the importance of Article XXIX of the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which states that “the working languages of the Organisation and all its institutions shall be, if possible African languages, English and French, Arabic and Portuguese.” Professor Matsinhe continued to say that African leaders have been very much concerned about the implementation of article XXIX of the Charter into reality symbolised by the creation of the OAU Inter-African Bureau of Languages: OAU-BIL, in Uganda, 1966, which was responsible for producing the O.A.U. Language Plan of Action for Africa that was adopted in Mauritius, in 1986.

He presented the six core projects of ACALAN, namely the Linguistic Atlas for Africa Project (LAAP), which aims at producing precise knowledge about the number of African languages; the Pan-African Master’s and PhD Programme in African Languages and Applied Linguistics (PAMAPAL), to train qualified linguists, language professionals, educators and other practitioners to become specialists in African languages; the Pan-African Centre for Translation and Interpretation Project (PACTIP), to enable African languages become true working languages and languages of instruction in a multilingual context; the Terminology and Lexicography Project, to produce a methodological framework for development of terminologies for African languages, train dictionaries compilers and terminology developers; the Stories Across Africa Project (SAAP), to produce anthologies of stories for children to enjoy reading in their own languages; and the African Languages and the Cyberspace Project (ALCP), to promote African languages in the cyberspace while using Human Language Technologies to them.

In conclusion, Professor Matsinhe said that ACALAN offers a window of opportunity to all of us for cooperation and synergy creation as its activities will add value to the efforts of contributing to the endogenous development of Africa in the perspective of consolidating integration, democracy and peace owing to the use of African languages. He therefore urged the international community to continue rendering its support to the activities of ACALAN. In view of the role of the bible society in the domain of translation, the implementation of the harmonised orthographies can be useful.

The participants learned more about ACALAN’s activities with the view of exploring further areas of cooperation with special reference to translation, interpretation, training of trainers in L1 methodology.

African Academy of Languages (ACALAN),
Bamako – Mali,
August 30, 2014