This is an interesting question, but it also expresses concern regarding the slow pace of technological advancements in Africa, partly due to language challenges. I believe establishing robust education and research programs focusing on terminology creation within African languages by African linguists, educators, and subject matter experts can collaborate to coin new terms that could reflect contemporary realities and innovations. This further draws attention to the need for improvements in curriculum development in academic institutions of learning to integrate courses that focus on the development of new linguistic terms into their curricula. This might enrich the African language vocabulary with terms that are not mere transliterations but words that can carry meaning and relevance within the African context.

Esteemed Dr. Nandala, I would like to commend you on your insightful analysis. The lacunae within our terminology can also be attributed to the shift from an agrarian lifestyle to modernity. The process of enlightenment was not without violence, and it compelled us to abandon our traditional ways of life abruptly. We needed to assimilate to the new ways as quickly as possible to reap the rewards of the system and earn the admiration of our fellow Black citizens who held the mzungu and his ways in high regard.

In this process, we relinquished the vessel that housed our repository of concepts and terminology that would have been useful today

African languages can stay current with technology without relying on transliteration by actively developing new words based on their linguistic structures. Collaboration between experts, technology professionals, and communities is essential to standardize technology-related terms. Promoting awareness and education, integrating indigenous knowledge, and using digital platforms for communication are key steps. Encouraging community participation and seeking government support can contribute to the evolution of African languages alongside modern technology.

الأمر فعليا يعتمد على قضية تجديد البحث اللغوي هذا من ناحية، من ناحية أخرى لا يمكن لوم اللغة على عدم قدرتها على مواكبة التطور لأن المصطلحات التكنولوجية مصطلحات وضعية، أي تضعها المجتمعات اللغوية وتصطلحها البلدان التي نشأت فيها هذه الثورات العلمية، فإن أردنا مواكبة هذا التطور فعلينا أن نتطور وستصاحبنا اللغة تحصيلا

.حاصلا لأن حاجتنا للاصطلاح والتسمية ستفرض علينا تجديد البحث اللغوي وجعله مواكبا للتطور التكنولوجي

All the today world languages of science, technology and management (French, English, German, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese) were once peripheral to the previously dominant international lingua franca (e.g. Latin in Europe of the Middle Ages and the 18th century).

Each of them went their own way. Some languages have mastered new terms through transliteration. Others created neologisms that were generally understandable to native speakers.

So I guess a lot depends on the type of language.

So, thank you, colleague, for the really fruitful question. I think it will be interesting for African linguists to take this experience into account.

Korenkov Alexander Short answer: No. The world languages you named developed and were written as science, philosophy and other disciplines developed. African languages missed the boat. Time for us to tip the chip off our shoulders and go with the flow: my knowledge of European languages has put more food on my table and clothes on my back than my mother tongue will ever do. It is high time we skipped the political correctness and faced the facts that life throws upon us.

Pradip Kumar Bishawas And you think other languages ACTIVELY developed new words? Not at all. Other languages NATURALLY fumbled into new words as their people developed in various disciplines.

Dear colleague,

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Okafor-Williams,

It seems to me, that the criteria for "more food on my table and clothes on my back" are not entirely correct and their appearance is associated with an emotional rather than a logical reasons.

Human civilization is dynamic. Especially today. Of the 2,100 languages in Africa, 2-4 of the most common (such as Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Oromoo) have a chance to get the status of regional international lingua franca. So...

Korenkov Alexander I hear you, my colleague. How is Yuruba gonna catch up with English, French, Polish, Chinese, etc., which have gone through more than a thousand years as written languages? And how are they gonna sit down and create new words for vaccines, electronic parts, the processes that take place in the human body and in the jet engine to circumvent transliteration? I think the equality and political correctness of today are overdone. Well, I will let those tribal languages take the risk, but by then my daughter and granddaughter would be selling books about them - all written in English, and then donate a little bit to those university departments who are trying to make a buck out of this. Thanks for your encouragement, anyway.

Korenkov Alexander & @Mike Nandala If you have the time, please can you comment on, follow and share the discussions created? I want to use people's answers to write articles on those issues. The plus side is that I will cite interesting responses in the paper, attributing it to the commenter. Any references to support your answer would also make your answer stand out. Thanks in advance.

Mike Nandala Your response sounds interesting. 1. What would be the financial and developmental purpose of our linguists to collaborate to coin words? Just to compete with the West? 2. Where are we gonna start? Do you know how many words there are just in the American Society of Psychology alone? 3. Which language are we gonna use? People are already complaining that we, the Igbos, are trying to colonise the world, especially with our enthusiasm about Achebe's books. 4. Why all the competition with the West? The people that encourage this futile stubbornness are the likes of Achebe. The man was inspired by European writers, never wrote in Igbo and took more pay from Heinemann Publications than any other African. Sadly, a misunderstanding of his views has made Africans extremely resistant to the English language in favour of his so-called African English. This has slowed down the development of African authors, as our authors keep in his footsteps.

Let me quote (I like supporting my arguments):

“On the other hand, proponents of African literature in European languages - led by Chinua Achebe - are of the view that African writers have no choice but to adopt “foreign” European languages in their writings.” [1]

Just as Achebe 'reconstructed' the English language to create an African English for African writers, Masiye did the same:

“Based exclusively on the examples from Andrea Masiye’s novel,

Before Dawn (1970), this study examines how Masiye has appropriated and reconstructed the English language in his text to convey the mode of feelings and thinking peculiar to his cultural milieu.” [1]

However, I lean more on the suspicion that this 'reconstruction' was, rather, due to their deficiency in the language, rather than expertise. Today, we have more learning resources, and it is sad that our novelists cannot outgrow Achebe.

Oshodi and Olowela, top Nigerian linguists, argue that African English is simply an excuse for bad English because every African is stuck in the process of learning the language, and it also depends on their education status [2].

--- My references ---

[1] Mutamda, Sylvester. “African Thoughts in English Words: Evidence from Andrea Masiye’s

Novel Before Dawn.” International Journal of Educational Investigations, vol. 4, no. 6, 2017, pp. 1-19.

[2] Oshodi, B., and Olowela, O. “The standard Nigerian English in Perspective: A variety or an interlanguage?” Journal of Second and Multiple Language Acquisition, vol. 8, no. 2, 2020, pp. 28 - 44.

Please respond with references, share, etc. I hope a paper can come out of this in the end. It might take a few months or arguing.

Dear college, Okafor Williams,

I just "met another thought". Maybe it will come in handy.

Any language is associated with a certain language picture of the world and the historically established logic of cognition and reflection of the world.

In fact, this is an extremely complicated semiotic algorithms. Every one.

It would be interesting to know what kind / type / sort of algorithms new (future) generations of AI will need to understand the world (the universe of meanings) that give rise in their "minds".

What kinds of codes would be necessary for description meanings which will illuminate / fell down into their minds.

Here is an interesting case (though in a different situation)

https://navajocodetalkers.org/

Korenkov Alexander You are absolutley correct. Can you say something from the link you sent? Any relevant argument or detail in your citation would help. I can decide if it is worth visiting that site. Thanks.

https://navajocodetalkers.org

This site examines one of the cases when a language that was previously considered of little interest suddenly turns out to be extremely in demand

Thanks a million, Korenkov Alexander. I watched all the videos, but they are unrelated to this discussion. Your video is about the Navajo language being used as a military code. How does that mean that Navajo has been developed to include technological terms?