Work in Progress

A Rowbory family blog from Nigeria

Nigeria: The first 4 months (work perspective)

Here’s a video introduction to what I’ve been doing: [youtube_sc url=12hYSb-OrGM] Watch on MobileMe (opens a new window, so you can keep the transcript in view in case that’s helpful)

Taking things littorally

Did you know that the word littoral existed? Or the word lory? Came across both when browsing the dictionary of a small Pacific language. I thought they were typos; my vocabulary has just been expanded!

A Call for Trial Publications!

David’s tentatively launching a new site for translation teams to publish trial versions of their translated work. Ideas, comments and texts all welcome!

The first ever web site in the Nya Huba language

The first ever web site written in the Nya Huba language of northern Nigeria has been created! What’s all the fuss?

Well done chicken

Here’s a quote from a book which ended up making a somewhat surprising long-term impact on our family. It’s about the problems of translating hymns into tone-languages… I have heard Dr Nida refer to a group in Liberia who were supposed to be singing the chorus, “Precious name, oh how sweet, Hope of earth and joy of heaven.” But the tune so reassigned the pitch patterns that it came out…

Mac Productivity Tool Bundle Sale

Just heard about a bundle of little useful apps to help streamline your use of a Mac available in the next 2 weeks only, costing $30 for the lot. Worth investigating. Includes favourites such as PathFinder and Text Expander.

Hausa Keyboard Updated

I updated the Hausa keyboard for Mac OS X: Added an automatic installer (applescript) to make it very quick to install. Added the Naira sign to alt-4 or alt-N. Returned / x and v to normal operation. Comments and feedback appreciated.

Unreliable internet? A Dashboard widget to tell you when you’re Really Online

Update: I’ve updated the widget to version 1.1 and given it its own page. If you live in a nicely developed town or city in North America, Europe, South Asia, India, I hazard a guess that you don’t know what unreliable internet access is like. If you live and work in Africa or somewhere nice …

Hausa Keyboard Layout File for Mac OS X

I’m learning Hausa, and trying to type as much of it up as possible. It’s not particularly original, but I’ve used the excellent Ukelele program to produce a nice wee Mac Keyboard Layout file to make it quicker to type Hausa a little more properly than most people manage. Here it is: Hausa (+tone).bundle (a 20K …