Google gives Somalia search domain

  1. Posted on Monday 13 June 2011 - 10:27
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    Kent Mensah, AfricaNews editor in Accra, Ghana
    The internet search giant Google has announced a gateway for Somali users with the creation of a domain for the Horn of Africa nation. The new domain, according to Google, will help people in Somalia find locally relevant information faster. Somalians can now search in their preferred languages - Arabic, English, and Somali.
    Somalia domain google
    The new domain – www.google.so – is geared towards giving a positive face to the country that is enveloped in political turmoil for over two decades. Telecommunication and internet services are virtually non-existent in the country.

    Somali is an important African language: beyond its national use in Somalia and Somaliland, it is one of the five major languages in Ethiopia, and one of the two languages of Djibouti. It is also spoken in northern Kenya and increasingly in Nairobi.

    “As part of the Google Africa community translation program, the Somali language interface was translated entirely by volunteers and polished by a passionate group of native speakers, language specialists & journalists in Eastleigh estate in Nairobi, fondly referred to as ‘little Mogadishu’. We wish to congratulate them for putting their language on the map,” a Google statement read.

    Local domains are a first step towards making the web more accessible and relevant for people around the world.

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