In Nigeria? With these three LIPs out, maybe Windows 7 was your idea!

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2011/02/02 07:01 -05:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2011/02/02/10123448.aspx


Allusion to the Windows 7 commercials is as obvious as it is intentional!

THE WINDOWS 7 LANGUAGE INTERFACE PACKS FOR NIGERIA ARE LIVE!
 
Click on the Hausa, Igbo, and/or Yoruba links to download them via the Microsoft.com Download Center.
  
Please note that the Nigerian Windows 7 LIPs can only be installed on a system that runs an English client version of Windows 7.   They are available to download for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

The Nigerian Windows 7 LIPs are produced as part of the Local Language Program sponsored by Public Sector.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE NIGERIAN LANGUAGES

NUMBER OF SPEAKERS:

Hausa: 24 million native speakers, 15 million second- language
Igbo: 18 million
Yoruba: 20 million, 2 million second-language

PREDOMINANT DISTRIBUTION IN NIGERIA:

SOME FUN FACTS:

CLASSIFICATION:

See classification information for: Hausa  Igbo  Yoruba

SCRIPT:

See script information for: Hausa  Igbo  Yoruba

Enjoy!


Jeremy Drake on 2 Feb 2011 11:00 AM:

Wait, so is it Igbo or Ibo?  The map lists it as Ibo, as does the classification link, while the script link and the download page list it is Igbo.  Is this another Emglish vs English thing, or is it more like German vs Deutsch? (or is Ibo the language and Igbo the script, as I might deduce from which links use which?)

Kathleen on 2 Feb 2011 11:46 AM:

Find it interesting title "for Nigeria" yet language packs for other multi-lingual countries/regions, ie India,  keep trickling out independently. Was this a Nigerian government requirement?

Oluseyi on 2 Feb 2011 1:23 PM:

@Jeremy: The Igbo/Ibo thing is a transliteration challenge, due to an imprecise mapping of a consonant that doesn't exist in English or any other language that uses the Latin alphabet (gb). Simplified spellings use "Ibo," whereas older spellings that attempt to capture the linguistic nuance use "Igbo." Both are acceptable.

@Kathleen: Quite possibly. Many things in Nigeria are carefully calibrated to maintain the illusion of parity, so as not to stoke any latent hostilities. For instance, the official statistics on religion state 49% of the population is Christian, 49% is Muslim, and the remaining 2% adhere to various "traditional religions." It's a transparently false statistic, in part because many people both profess one of the Abrahamic religions and adhere to traditional rites and rituals (often having family idols in a shrine in the home, for example), and because the visible population disparity should give a clear numerical/proportional advantage to Christianity.

All that said, this is nice to see. Wish I had a Windows 7 box around to play with the Yoruba LIP. Good job!

Michael S. Kaplan on 2 Feb 2011 1:37 PM:

@Kathleen: My understanding of the situation is that there was no requirement from the government but a general request for things to be in sync, so that accidental fortune (e.g. who finishes first) is not mistaken as malicious intent (e.g. "language AAAA is more important than language BBBB").

Microsoft faces similar pressures with the LIPs of Spain, though we do not do as good of a job with the pressure there. :-)

John Cowan on 3 Feb 2011 9:13 AM:

"Igbo" is the way it's spelled in Igbo, but Igbos would rather have anglophones see "Ibo" and pronounce it "Eeebo" than see "Igbo" and pronounce it "Igg-bo", which is just Igg-norant.  Many Igbo speakers use an implosive "b" (IPA [ɓ])anyway rather than the double-articulated consonant.

Michael S. Kaplan on 3 Feb 2011 9:32 AM:

Not unlike the way Greeks feel about the way we pronounce Gyro! :-)


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2011/02/22 Look on the bright side: they can probably still read it, at least?

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