In early July 2009 the leading Internet search engine and software services company, Google, Inc., introduced an interface that allows users to access their search tools in Luganda. Unfortunately, about 50% of the translations are only literal, and semantically incorrect. Since July 27, 2009, thirty five (35) Baganda have contacted Buganda Post by email to complain about the abuse of their language by Google. Some of the upset Baganda see this abuse of their language as another assault on their culture by foreigners at the same time that Museveni’s government is character assassinating their Kabaka.
One London resident named Nakibuuka even suggested that Mmengo, Ekibiina ky’Olulimi Oluganda (Luganda Language Society) and Makerere University Luganda department should protest to Google, Inc. for their racist approach to black people. She asks: “Would Google accept a Hebrew platform that was translated by a team of Arabs? If it is not ‘all black people are the same’ racism, how come Google used a team of translators none of whom is a Muganda? It is time for Baganda to deal with Museveni, Northerners, Banyankore, Iteso and even Google aggressively if they continue to ridicule our Kabaka and other pillars of our Buganda nation. Doing nothing is surrendering to these guys to decide what broken Luganda our Baganda children will learn.”
When we checked out the Luganda Google site, http://www.google.com/intl/lg/, there was evidence why some Baganda are angry that their language had been butchered so badly. Evidently, the translators primarily relied on and English-to-Luganda dictionary and casual knowledge of the language to create Google’s new Luganda platform. For example, “Advanced Search” was translated to “Enonya eya Wagulu”, which is not only spelt wrong but is a poor approximation of the semantic meaning. Equally ridiculous is the translation of “Language Tools” to “Ebikozesa ebya Olulimi”. Even worse is the translation of “Groups” to “Ebibinjja” (which means “gangs” or “armies”, when correctly spelt).
According to a source at the Makerere University Luganda Language Institute, Google was conned by unscrupulous Iteso and Banyakore and sold a fake translation. The sources pointed Buganda Post to an article written by one Rwandese, Denis Gikunda , at http://sites.google.com/site/gwscommunitytranslation/uganda, which identifies the individuals that Google trusted with translating a highly nuanced Luganda language, which has existed for more than 1,000 years. According to Gikunda’s story the team that created Google’s Luganda platform includes: Jonathan Gosier (unclear nationality), Emmanuel Oluka (Acholi or Langi), James Olweny (Iteso), Barbara Birungi (Munyankore), James Nabireeba (Munyankore) and Jerry Opollot (Iteso). Luganda is not the mother tongue to any of the translators.
August 5th, 2009 at 4:11 am
Actually we were all volunteers. If Buganda believes that the student and professional translators have gotten some words, wrong, I invite you to work with Google to improve the interface for Uganda.
There was an open call to the public for several months, as far as I know Appfrica Labs was one of the few groups that volunteered our staff and time to help Google in their efforts.
If you’d like to help translate, then I’ll be happy to put you in touch with the right people.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Guy,
If it is true that you represent the Banyankore and Northerners who created that terrible translation I only thank you for quickly realizing that continuing to fool around with Baganda is not health. The problem is that you don’t get point that your willingness to volunteer is not license for you and your friends to impersonate Luganda linguists. If your intention was to “help” why didn’t you simply advise Google to contact the Luganda Language Society or the Makerere Luganda department?
When it comes to the pillars of our country Buganda we cannot take anymore arrogancy from Banawanga! Kabaka, Luganda and the clans are included in the pillars – keep off and stick your Uganda culture.
Annoyed.
August 8th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Hello Jon,
Thanks for your reply to the above issue\article. I would like to provide some facts and give my opinions on this Google translation program.
1. You’ve told us that you’re all volunteers and that you’re a combination of students and professional translators. This is a very important work where new Luganda words and terms are being created in almost all fields of studies- science, arts, culture, etc. This work cannot simply be done by professional translators and students ( mostly computer students as per your website). None of them speaks Luganda as his\her first Language. The project Lead or leaders should have qualified Luganda terminology experts and terminology elaborators. Your volunteers are creating new words and terms without a systematic measurement. To quote the leading African Terminologist and Research Methodologist , Dr. Kibuuka Kiingi of Makerere University Department of Linguistics, he laid down the criteria as: “ those new Terms will be recognized if they fulfill the following criterion 1) Precision 2) economy 3)generativity 4) internationality 5)transparency 6)objectivity 6) systemicity 7)consistence & 9)acceptability. “. He calls it “ PEGITOSCA”. Your new Luganda words must be tested and approved by qualified Luganda Terminology experts ( not students and Translators). I don’t see any one in your team qualified to do that job.
2. It’s surprising that a very rich company like Google should use Africans to do its technical innovations on a voluntary basis. Why doesn’t it fund such projects in Africa by either paying consultation fees or funding research projects? If you visit the Luganda Terminologies website at http://www.luganda.com under “UPDATES”, you will discover that Luganda Terminology researchers have compiled a Style Manual for English-Luganda-English Dictionary definers and Luganda Terminological Modernizers. They lack the funds to complete the final phases e.g testing of terms and printing the Dictionary ( Enkuluze). I have a copy of their budget and its no more than $350,000 which is peanut to Google. It’s amazing that a top search Engine company like Google failed to contact those Luganda Terminology Experts whose emails, credentials and work are easily availed by a simple web search.
3. If Google is not willing to part with Research Funds, I can assure you that these experts at Makerere will volunteer to critique your new \ invented words. Send me your new words ( as an attachment), I will forward them to those Luganda Terminology Experts. My email address is found on the website http://www.luganda.com
4. You said that “There was an open call to the public for several months, as far as I know Appfrica Labs was one of the few groups that volunteered our staff and time to help Google in their efforts”.
Where did you place your advert? Did you try the leading Luganda websites and radios like http://www.buganda.com; http://www.luganda.com; Bugandanet, Unaanet, Ganda Talk, Buganda Broadcasting Services ( CBS); Buganda Kingdom website; etc? Did you contact me at http://www.luganda.com and I failed to help have experts in this field of Luganda terminologies and Translation?
5. You said “If you’d like to help translate, then I’ll be happy to put you in touch with the right people”.
Who are the right people? Let me know them or forward this article to them. If they want to contact me, my email is on the website. I’m willing to give them the names and contacts of the Luganda Terminology Experts.
6. The Luganda Terminology Researchers have been helping other African Language researchers in the field of terminology elaborations and dictionary compilations in languages such as Runyankole\Runyakitala, Lusoga, Luo and Iteso. You can imagine what Google is actually missing!
James Ssenyange
Canada
August 8th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Thanks for your feedback, both of you. What was most surprising about this Article is that it attacked Ugandans and others who painstakingly spent hours volunteering their time to benefit Uganda because we love our country and we want to see it represented on the web for all, not just one ethnic group over another. If we did something wrong, then I apologize on everyone’s behalf.
Secondly, I’m not sure why you think we presented ourselves as ‘experts’. We aren’t. Some were students, most were Ugandan and some were professionals from Makerere University.
Google didn’t ask us to do anything. they asked for volunteers for several months and unfortunately none of the institutions you mentioned volunteered to help. In other words, if we hadn’t done this, I’m certain it wouldn’t have gotten done.
Google has used this model to bring over 60 countries online, if you think Uganda deserves better treatment than those other countries, to be paid for translations, then I’d urge you to take it up with Google.
However, to insult and attack us for trying to make sure Uganda is represented on the web is unfair.
I will be more than happy to help you make your case to Google even though you’ve insulted my staff, my colleagues and our motives. I’m willing to ignore all that because I do what I do for the benefit of this country.
That includes helping the people who attempt to discredit me and my team.
August 8th, 2009 at 8:46 am
I’ll add one more point. In your article you attack specific members of Makerere’s faculty, while suggesting Google work with Makerere. Clearly they did, as Olweny and Nabireeba are staff members at the university.
In fact Makerere is one of Google’s biggest partners in Uganda and on this project. Essentially asked for Makerere’s language department to protest itself. If you had emailed the university, myself or Google we could have shared this information with you.
Anwyas, I’m more than willing to work with you to resolve this. Seems to be more of a misunderstanding than anything else.
August 8th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
To be sure i don’t know how i should get a thorough explanation.Its worth mentioning that you don’t volunteer by spoiling the broth,rather steer free of it.If a whole prestigious institution like Makerere can afford to hand over skimpily knowledgeable people on facets of standard luganda orthography to handle a major project like that,most especially with an action packed Luganda teaching staff around,then am lost of words.More still a global behemoth like Google to hire quakes to fill its databases? It calls for a rewriting of Google databases as they are not devoid of even bigger gaps to fill.Makerere might have handed over Runyakitara or Luo Volunteers instead i stand to be corrected on this.Who cannot tell noise from silence anyway? Learn to place right explanations where necessary but not acting hoax than tell the truth.
God Bless you all.
August 8th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Baganda banange,
This Jon man is a classic example of the culture of disrespect for professionalism that M7 has created in uganda. Clearly, he sincerely believes that it is noble for amateurs without intimate knowledge of Luganda language to volunteer and represent us to Google. He is very much like all the thousands of clinic owners in Uganda who confidently “help” dispense potentially fatal drugs without any formal medical or pharmacy training.
Omuganda agamba nti, “Akanaafa tekawulira ngombe”. People like Jonathan Gosier and New Vision’s Barbara Among have eaten so much M7 crap about Buganda’s impending collapse that they would never know or understand what hits them.
August 10th, 2009 at 3:02 am
POSTED BY ADMIN ON BEHALF OF DEB SENYANGE:
Hello Jon,
I’m surprised that you are defending the sub standard Transalation work your team of Non Baganda is carrying out on behalf of Google. I would assume that you were hired as an External Examiner at Makerere Univerisity for some reasons and one of them is to ensure that those post graduate students your team of examiners attend to achieve good quality International Standards. Thats why MUK didnt just select any lecturer at MUK to examin those students of IT or German.By Olweny and Nabireeba being staff members of MUK is not a qualification to create and produce new technical words for Luganda Speakers as you have stated. The Makerere Institute of Languages has a Section for Luganda and none of the above is or has been part of Luganda Teaching Section. What I know is that you contacted one Luganda Lecturer to translate a small peace of work and is doing it under the supervision of Olweny, Nabireeba and you!
Is it acceptable or even possible for a group of volunteers whose 1st Language is NOT German, to create new technical terminologies for German Language? Tell us what you Germans look for in such an important technical work like this..
Jon, look at this scenario. Mulago Hospital has a shortage of Surgical equipments and Surgions to carry out complicated cases. The Govt has failed to buy those Equipments and it cant even pay the salaries of qualified surgeons capable of doing that work. However, there is an Investor who has the money to Invest and get some profits. He’s willing to buy the equipments but cannot afford to pay Surgion’s salaries. He plans to hire Nurses from Mulago who have ever been in the operating room, to carry out surgary.
Question: Are you going to sing praises of those nurses who have accepted to do surgery at low pay ( sh.300,000 pm) and the investor who has hired the nurses to carry out his surgery business in Africa?
Try to fit your answer to your Google project.
Ssenyange
August 13th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Dear All,
You are right in saying all that you have said, Mr. jon stated here is actually a black America “social entreprenuer” cum conman, using the guise of developing local software/technical talent to exploit final year students and those who have just graduated…iam actually dismayed to think that he would blatantly lie to us here..does he think we are not educated?..he probably thought Buganda post is read by a few non technical people illiterate Baganda..i have had the displeasure of working with jon directly and i can assure you that he is one of the most unintelligently dishonest thieves that exist here or globaly, he claims that Olweny and Nabireeba are University employees this is not true..these two just graduated last january..if you confirm with the faculty of Computing and IT (www.cit.mak.ac.ug) you will find that they have never been employees but rather students who worked on one of the many projects that the faculty undertakes-translating Mozilla firefox web browser to luganda, this was done with help from a few south African Experts, Department of Languages(MUK) and a Professor from Finland(Prof.Arvi Heikennen (who is an expert in language technologies and is well versed in Luganda,Swahili,Zulu..to mention but a few) this work was well done since it was done under supervision of Experts..and had an interdisciplinary team who included Academics and Technical Professionals, Jon saw the impact and publicity it got the faculty of Computing and IT and wanted the same glory at a cheap price..the same jon..went behind the faculty’s back and used the name of the Institution and signed for another project called Kanusi which also involves translation and alot of money..the project was supposed to be carried out by academic institutions ,so the crafty jon fronted a Senior lecturer’s name..she had no idea what was going on but found out that the con man had signed on her behalf..this was while she was in Netherlands finishing up her Phd,(you can confirm this with Mr.Micheal Niyitegeka Head of Corporate relations FCIT, Makerere email:mniyitegeka@cit.mak.ac.ug )..the translators like James Olweny are actually gifted but given the fact that Mr. Jon D. Gosier of http://www.appfrica.org , signed agreements with the translators and ended up not paying fully i.e. he agreed that they would do work for 3 months and get paid 800,000/-pm, but he pressured them into doing work in 2 months and didnt pay them for the third month plus overtime and exchanged fake second hand laptops for the 2month salary at an inflated rate, this is the same model jon has been using exploiting young people who have talent but are broke, so he can cut his operational costs and be seen to be doing a service to Africa..its such a shame that him being a black american.you would think he would try to have sympathy towards his ancestral kindren but what he run’s at appfrica is modern day slavery..he makes people work on projects for him which he fronts as his own..i.e a project called Question Box, was worked on by majorly two people John Apac(who quit due to similar issues) and Moses mugisha both final year Computer Science Students…and this project was done for
http://www.questionbox.org and the Grameen foundation’s Applabs (software hub inside MTN funded by Grameen), he used it fronting it as his own at several international conferences..http://www.ted.com/fellows/view/id/51 ,he misrepresented the software since all it does is collect data locally on a computer most of which is fed in manually and also uses open source resources like offline wikipedia and sphinx(an opensource search engine), some one calls with a question or sms’s a question to an operator who then calls them back with an answer..its not really technical or innovative you can even sit with a laptop connected to the internet and do the samething, the guy goes on to pretend that he is a programmer which is not really true since he is simply a web designer using CMS’s to come up with things he claims are innovations. Jon should stop defrauding Ugandan’s.. many students have come to me seeking legal redress and if he continues we will proceed with fullsteam ahead BTW he made his employees sign an agreemnet that virtually takes away their rights i.e. only 5 days paid leave in a year yet the law stipulates that an employee is entitled to 30 days annually also he threatens his employees with leagl action if they leave and keep on carrying out anything related to the work they did with Appfrica, this is in contravention of the labour law..i.e if all i know how to do is sweep floors, will i not eat for a year because i used to sweep the floor at Appfrica..people watch out this man is a real thug.
A copy of this agreement with Jons signature is available on request
August 13th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Well, this is part of the big statement of how Makerere University has largely now become a shell of its former self. How can a con artist come all the way from wherever he came and the guys at Makerere University in the departments of IT & Luganda fail to notice his folly? You may actually discover that none of the folks above who are expressing their disgust at Jon and his so-called volunteers who are non-Baganda and purport to have the required technical skills in rendering Luganda-Google is a lecturer and/or administrator in the departments under question. What does that tell you?!?
Anyhow, just in case Jon can still take advice, I forward him the following address below for any genuinely technical assistance he will definitely need in his trudging efforts to come up with what the intellectual and non-intellectual Luganda speakers will accept and appreciate as genuine, but not that kinda crap of translation he his team of masqueraders has come up with: ttesupa@hotmail.com
Awangaale nnyo Baffe Cucu Lukomwanantawetwamuge Kabaka wa Buganda
August 15th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Tara,
Vaawo naawe muzana wa Kabaka! How can you even consider the idea of assisting this con artist in his efforts to use our language as a prop in his business schemes? I know, as a Muganda, you may suffering from our natural weakness to always be welcoming and helpful. I do too once in a while but not on something this major.
Mwanyinaze, it is an illusion to think that anyone will every like us or be fair to us or help us because we are welcoming and helpful. Do you know of any country which is worth living in but where the government and people are on a permanent campaign to “welcome and help others to use their resources”? The USA, Canada, UK, Sweden, Australia, France, Germany, Japana, even South Africa all have tough visa controls because they found out about 500 years ago that foreigners always come “to take” NOT “to give”, so you must only welcome the few who bring something of value. And look at where Baganda are after 30 years of our “we are very welcoming” pride. Our land is gone, our Kabaka cannot move freely and our Katikkiro is begging a Munyarwanda for everything. And now a con artist is starting on redefining Luganda.
After Kikonyogo’s letter can we even discuss allowing this musazi w’ensawo to continue his redefinition the the jewels of our culture,the Luganda language? I say no! We should be running him out of town and reporting him to the FBI (who may be looking for him). And i await your defense Tara – otherwise you may have to pay a fine.
Awangaale Ssabasajja!
David Kasozi
August 18th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Mwanyinaze Musajja wa Kabaka Kasozi,
My warmest salutations!
I guess, I inadvertently appeared to be an apologist for that con artist called Jon. Nothing could be any further from the truth! Nonetheless, I apologize to you and all those who may have seen me in that light!
Otherwise, I pretty much enjoy your postings/intellectual contributions towards our nation and motherland Buganda.
Awangaale nnyo Baffe Ssabasajja Kabaka!
P.S: Did you see those weekend pictures of our Maggulunnyondo and his subjects in Lubiri? They made my house much warmer right here in Scranton – P.A!!!!!
September 9th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
The situation is getting worse and worse by the day. Saturday 12th September 2009, all Baganda should stand behind the King as we Visit Kayunga District. No one will deter us!!! Come let’s fight this enemy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJrKXdKYNPY