Ethiopia, the second most populous nation in Africa (after Nigeria) has a population of 80 million this year (2009). There are 84 languages (these are totally different languages) and more than 200 dialects in Ethiopia. However, Amharic remains Ethiopia’s national language. It is estimated that 50% of the population speak Amharic (as first language and second language speakers).
Although Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in the world, its languages did not develop fully to express scientific words and phrases. Many attempts to translate text books into Amharic failed miserably.
So, English remains the primary business language of Ethiopia; and all subjects are taught in English from grade 7 and above, including colleges and universities.
Until recently, Geez fonts were not available in Microsoft Office packages. We had to buy and download the fonts from Ethiopian programmers’ websites. The idea of buying Geez fonts has made me very upset over the years. Mind you … when all the rich nations were getting free fonts, but poor Ethiopians, other Africans and Asians were subjected to really expensive charges just to get fonts.
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December 31, 2009
Posted by vancouverethiopian |
Ethiopian Businesses, Ethiopian Careers, Ethiopian Culture, Ethiopian Education, Ethiopian History, Ethiopian Languages, Ethiopian Media, Ethiopian Professors, Ethiopian Socials, Ethiopians & Technology, Ethiopians Back Home, Ethiopians in Vancouver | African, African Languages, Afrikaans, Amharic, Amharic Fonts, Amharic Text Books, Ethiopia, Ethiopians, Geez, Hausa, Igbo, Language, Languages, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Software, Sotho, Swahili, Translations, Tswana, Windows 7, Windows 7 in Amharic, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu |
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