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Divided into six language families, the African continent has up to 2,000 languages, of which 75 have more than one million speakers. This diversity has proven to be resilient despite colonial efforts to suppress it, with many languages flourishing.
However, with the rise of globalization, there has been an active trend towards a few dominant lingua franca (ex., English, French, Portuguese and Spanish) which has begun to threaten the diversity of languages on the African continent.
The chronic lack of investment in educational resources online and offline has meant that many languages have failed to keep up with the changing digital landscape and retain relevance for younger generations. This is where Izesan! comes in.
How Izesan! uses technology to expand the reach of African languages
Founded in Nigeria with an African outlook, the app has harnessed artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to fill a gap left by larger apps concerning African languages. A prime example of this gap is that Hausa is spoken by approximately 48.3 million people, and Igbo is spoken by roughly 27 million people, yet neither has a course on Duolingo, whilst the Star Trek language of Klingon does.
According to Anthony Otaigbe, founder of Izesan!, “the fact that a ‘mythical’ language is more accessible to members of the international community than African ones highlight the importance of using technology to allow more people to experience the numerous languages that Africa has to offer – languages which represent unique cultures across the continent.”
There is a need for more online resources for African languages, not only to facilitate speakers of global languages learning African languages but for intra-African discourse to happen as well.
If you cannot find Hausa and Igbo on Duolingo, then it only makes sense that you find them on Izesan!, an app formulated by Africans, for Africans. African languages do not need to be left behind in digital spaces but can rather be celebrated through language. Izesan! provides a way to keep African languages relevant for newer generations by making African languages accessible.
This is why it’s important
It is not only larger African languages that deserve to be uplifted through technological innovation but also smaller ones. These smaller languages are at a greater risk for extinction, with the UN predicting that half of all languages spoken today will be extinct by 2050.
Each language that goes extinct is a door closed on the shared history of a people and their nuances, especially on a continent that has a deep value for oral history. Izesan! combats this by producing educational resources for African languages of all sizes whilst facilitating the ease of access to them.
Izesan! utilizes AI and ML to map out African languages even when they are uncommon or rare. This means that languages that have not benefited from extensive funding and research still have the opportunity to be learned.
Copyright: Izesan!
Izesan!: Expanding beyond online language learning
Beyond facilitating the learning of languages Izesan! is creating the space for African languages to be spoken through new ventures such as the Uwa platform, which is modeled as the African answer to Twitter. African languages are spoken extensively in day-to-day life, but there is poverty in diversity on online platforms.
Uwa is the answer to this issue by constructing a space where African language speakers can converse in their language of choice and comfort through the harnessing of AI and ML. Technology has not always benefited African languages, but Izesan! is changing this by telling Africa’s story, one language at a time.
Izesan! is not just a language learning platform but also an active attempt to create space for African people. The online world has often been dominated by western-centric corporations, which have at times excluded African voices. Technology is not meant to be in the hands of a narrow grouping but should be the tool to truly unlock the potential of diversity.
Izesan! is changing the narrative by proudly championing its African roots and striving for excellence. Investing in AI and ML means that there is an African fingerprint on them which will, in the future, help to ensure that these processes can benefit the people of the continent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVcnOb7U92o
Final take
In the end, Izesan! is representative of a new wave of African innovation that is not geared towards the needs of the western world but rather towards the continent itself. It is putting its money where its mouth is by not only talking the talk but also walking the walk.
The future of online platforms does not need to be dominated by a few global languages and a narrow set of ideals but rather a diversity of both. Izesan! is an active player in this diverse future and will always be an advocate for African languages and people.
