Angola is a plurilingual country,
with six African languages recognized as national languages as well as
Portuguese as the official language. Besides this, it is estimated that there
are 37 languages and 50 dialects in use in the country. At the end of October
2013, the blog Círculo Angolano Intelectual (Angolan Intellectual Circle)
reported that 30 percent of the Angolan population (almost 8.5 million
Angolans) only speak national languages which are not featured in any
educational or social program and noted that this factor contributes to provoke social exclusion.
“On average, a language disappears
every two weeks, and Africa is the continent most at risk”, wrote the author
José Eduardo Agualusa in a 2011 article on the evolution of languages in
Angola. However, during the past year a number of online platforms have been
created with the aim of protecting Angola's national languages.
In an attempt to counter the
phenomenon, various online initiatives were created during 2013 by young people
who view the new technologies as a tool for the promotion and protection of
national languages.
One project, still in its initial
phase, which aims to promote learning of the Angolan national languages in an
innovative way, free of charge and accessible to everyone with access to the Internet,
is Evalina.
Created in May 2013 by Joel Epalanga,
an IT project manager in the telecommunications sector, the primary motive for
the creation of the platform was the observation that there is a gap faced by
many young people with regard to the national languages.
Evalina consists of a Facebook page
where content such as incentives to learn and lessons on national languages are
shared. At the date of publication of this article, the page featured lessons
on Umbundu, the second most-spoken language after Portuguese, and on Kimbundo.
Another project which stands out is
the Ngola Yetu Dictionary, a dictionary and online translator for Angolan
national languages “developed with the goal of reinforcing Angolan culture and
increasing its use among young people”. With a simple and intuitive design not
unlike Google, it works as a search engine between the Kikongo, Kimbundo,
Umbundo and Portuguese languages. The project has used Facebook and Twitter to
interact with web users.
Between 2004 and 2010, a trial was
carried out to introduce seven national languages in a series of schools in the
country. The Ministry of Education declared in September 2013 that it
plans to expand the teaching of national languages into all primary schools. A
bill on the Statute of National Language in Angola ”to promote social
inclusion and strengthen unity in ethno linguistic diversity” is in its
concluding phase. (Global Voices, 2014)
