Ghanaian language integration on Android smartphones
Date
2014-07
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Abstract
The main aim of this project is to integrate local languages spoken and written
in Ghana into the input method services of smartphones. The high penetration
of mobile devices in and across Africa continues to be an interesting
phenomenon and this does not exclude smartphones. Since the introduction
of smartphones, their production and customization has been skewed towards
users and consumers in the West. Therefore the localization of the features of
smartphones for the African environment has been very slowed if not stopped.
The major result of this is that text based mobile messaging is limited to
characters of only the dominant languages of the world such as English,
French, Spanish and Portuguese. This leaves consumers especially in Ghana
to resort to replacing the special characters of their local language with either
numbers of symbols or totally ignore their use. This might conflict with the
correct use of the local language in context.
The goal of this project is to right this by implementing an input method service
also known as a soft keyboard (SoftKeyboard) for the android smartphone
platform which would represent the special characters in local languages
spoken in Ghana. The end result should be a user-friendly and intuitive and
interactive keyboard that satisfies Akan, which is a major spoken language
across Ghana and other select languages in the country.
Description
Applied project submitted to the Department of Computer Science, Ashesi University College, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, July 2014
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Applied project
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Keywords
mobile technology, input keyboard, android phone, local languages, Ghana, Akan