In a landmark move to promote linguistic inclusion and digital empowerment, Google South Africa, in collaboration with the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), has launched an AI glossary that standardizes 100 key artificial intelligence terms in Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaans.
Speaking at the event, Kabelo Makwane, Country Director for Google South Africa, emphasized the importance of making technology accessible to non-English speakers.
For many people, especially those who don’t speak English, conversations around technology can feel distant and out of reach. The language of technology hasn’t caught up with the richness of our local languages and dialects.
He added that the glossary is a critical step toward ensuring that African users can engage meaningfully in the global AI conversation using their native languages. Quoting Nelson Mandela, Makwane noted, “If you speak to a person in their home language, you speak to their heart.” He stressed that connecting people to technology in their mother tongue fosters deeper understanding and engagement.
This initiative builds on Google’s previous work in Swahili and forms part of its broader commitment to bridging the digital divide. The company aims to empower Africans not only to use technology but also to shape it using their own languages and cultural contexts.
Lance Schultz, CEO of PanSALB, described the glossary as a pilot project with significant potential for expansion. “This gives us an opportunity for much greater development,” he said. “We will remain a strategic partner as the project scales to include more indigenous South African languages and additional AI-related terms.”
Google and PanSALB plan to expand the glossary to cover more South African indigenous languages and technical terms, ensuring that the fast-evolving world of AI becomes more inclusive and representative of Africa’s linguistic diversity.
