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African Language Resources on the Internet
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ACALAN: Académie Africaine des Langues = African Academy of Languages (2006) (Bamako, Mali)
- AfLaT -- African Language Technology (Antwerp, Belgium; Cape Town, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya)
"...the growing availability of digital corpora, dictionaries and tools for many (formerly) resource-scarce African languages...The AfLaT website aims to catalogue these resources for the benefit of researchers interested in African language technology. ...AfLaT.org contains a steadily growing collection of bibliographic resources, web links and tools, provided by AfLaT members."
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AFRILEX: African Association for Lexicography (via University of Pretoria, South Africa)
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ALMA: African Language Materials Archive: A joint project of the West African Research Center (Dakar, Senegal), Columbia University, CAORC--Council of American Overseas Research Centers, and UNESCO. (via DRL--Digital Library for International Research, a project of the CAORC, Washington, DC)
- A collection of electronic books in major languages of West Africa: Wolof, Mandinka, Moré, Dyula, and Pulaar. The archive was produced as part of a pilot project launched by the West African Research Center in Dakar.
- See other resources for Wolof, Mandinka, Fulfulde, and Pulaar below.
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ALRP: African Language Research Project (Department of English and Modern Languages, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, Maryland)
- The site includes information on the project history, African language publications, conference/workshop proceedings, and current progress; plus a project newsletter. "From 1994 to the present the project has published level two and three readers in Yoruba, Hausa, Lingala, Sudanese Arabic, and a forthcoming reader in Igbo. Currently [in 2004], a manuscript is being developed in the Wolof language (Senegal). For the next two years funds are available for readers in Akan and Luganda. These readers are professionally published by Dunwoody Press, a division of McNeil Technologies."
- Electronic Lexicon (Igbo-English)
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African Language Teachers' Association (ALTA), 1999- (via University of Wisconsin, Madison)
- Web Resources for African Languages (Jouni F. Maho, Partille, Sweden)
- AfricanLanguages.Com (David Joffe, Pretoria, South Africa)
- This website contains information about African Languages, online dictionaries and lexicons, and other African Language related resources. Currently mostly only the South African languages are covered---especially Sesotho, Setswana, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Venda, Siswati, and Afrikaans, as well as Kiswahili and Cilubà in Eastern and Central Africa.
- Kiswahili
- Sheng-English Lexicon
-- Sheng is a slang dialect of Kiswahili spoken in Kenya, especially in and around Nairobi.
- Cilubà
-- Cilubà is spoken mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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African Languages Technology Initiative--ALT-I (2004) (Ibadan, Nigeria)
- "African Languages Technology Initiative (Alt-I) was set up to facilitate development of the necessary resources that will enable the engagement of information communication technologies (ICT) in African Languages. ...to appropriate various aspects of human language technology (HLT) such as speech synthesis, speech recognition, natural language understanding, machine translation and many others..."
- Projects--corpus development, Yoruba keyboard, speech synthesis, etc.
- Amharic on the Internet
- African Language.Com's Amharic Language Tutorial Programs (Anaheim, California)
Warning: this is a commercial site.
Tutorial materials for Tigrinya, Oromo, and Somali are also available.
- Ethiopic.Com (Ethiopian Computers & Software, Littleton, Colorado; in association with Fettan Graphics Corp., Washington, DC)
The web site features downloadable Ge'ez fonts and other products, plus extensive links to articles and related information on the Web about the Amharic language and Ethiopia.
- Tsehai Loves Learning (Abshiro Group, USA; in association with Whiz Kids Workshop, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
A website featuring information about educational videos (DVD format), TV programs in Amharic from Ethiopia, and public events in the USA for teaching Amharic to (Ethiopian) children.
- Bambara on the Internet
- Bamanan: Langue et Culture Bambara Mɔgɔya ye juru ye! (Charles Bailleul, Vittorio Bonfanti et allii, Centre d'Etude de Langue (CEL), Falajè, Mali)
- Bambara: Léxique bambara-français-anglais (Richard Nci Diarra, Koutala, Mali)
- Conte-Moi la Francophonie: Contes du Mali pour enfants (Paris, France)
--Veuillez voir surtout les fichiers sonores en bambara et les textes en français.
- Indiana University, Language & Computer Laboratories: Introductory --and-- Intermediate Bambara. Languages On-Line. (Bloomington, Indiana)
Audio files in Bambara and English which accompany the grammar, An Ka Bamanankan Kan Kalan, by Charles Bird et al. (1976-77), published by Indiana University Press. Note: there are no online texts.
- United Nations. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: Hadamaden josiraw dantigɛkan Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
(Geneva, Switzerland)
- Bemba Home Page (Debra Spitulnik, David Charnon, and Mubanga E. Kashoki, Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia)
This site offers a bibliography of resources, a linguistic profile, and a selection of audio files for this major language and cultural group of Zambia.
- Bisharat! A language, technology, and development initiative (See below)
- BL Online: the bibliographical database of linguistics. Bibliographie linguistique/Linguistic Bibliography.
-- The Hague, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Bibliotheek = National Library of the Netherlands, 1993-
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Books in African Languages: Recent Acquisitions 1999-2000, Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University. With Addenda to the previously published catalog. Compiled by D.W. Bade. PAS working papers; no. 8, vol. 3. (2004) -- Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Program of African Studies, 2004. (120 pp. in PDF format)
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Buganda Home Page Focus on Language (Mukasa E. Ssemakula et al., Wayne State University, Ohio)
"Empandika y'Oluganda"--a primer in speaking and writing Luganda ; a Luganda grammar ; and related links.
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Bukedde. (Online) -- Kampala, Uganda: New Vision Printing & Publishing Corporation, 2000 -
Current daily issue in Luganda and a searchable archive -- since 2000 -- of the electronic version of this government-run newspaper.
- See also: Ugandan and English Language "Discussion Topics" below
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CBOLD: Comparative Bantu Online Dictionary (Department of Linguistics and the Institute of Cognitive Studies, University of California, Berkeley ; via L'Institut des Sciences de l'Homme, Lyon, France)
- The site offers descriptions of the project and its components, with tools for linguistic analysis, a selection of dictionaries and word lists, and related links. "The CBOLD project was started in 1994 by Larry Hyman and John Lowe to produce in Berkeley a lexicographic database to support and enhance the theoretical, descriptive, and historical linguistic study of the languages in the important Bantu family."
- Online Searchable Dictionaries and Word Lists
- Bantu Maps and Mapmaker
- Conferences on African Languages and Linguistics
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Ethiopic Script Omniglot: a guide to written language. (Simon Ager, USA)
A very brief introduction to the script or fidel used in Ethiopia and Eritrea--especially for Ge'ez, Amharic, and Tigrinya; with a syllabary and related links.
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Ethnologue Country Index -- Africa (From Ethnologue (Online), SIL International, Dallas, Texas, 1999-)
For each country in Africa, there is a listing and description of languages, and a map of languages.
- European Centre for Modern Languages: Literacy and linguistic diversity in a global perspective:
an intercultural exchange with African countries. (2007) Edited by Neville Alexander and Brigitta Busch. -- Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe Publishing, 2007. 106 pages in PDF format.
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Fon is Fun! = Le Fon est facile...vraiment! (Chris Starace, via GeoCities.Com)
A basic primer on Fongbe, the predominant language of southern Benin, compiled by an ex-Peace Corps Volunteer.
- For Fula, Fulani, or Fulfulde, see: Fula Language on the Internet
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Hausa Language Web Pages
- BBC World Service in Hausa (British Broadcasting Corporation, London, UK)
- Columbia University: Hausa Acquisitions at Columbia University Libraries (2009)
- Deutsche Welle News Summaries and Radio Broadcasts in Hausa (Bonn, Germany)
- Google Books -- Historical Hausa
-- Dictionary of the Hausa language, vol. 1 Hausa-English (1913) by Charles Henry Robinson (Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge, 1913)
-- Dictionary of the Hausa language, with appendices of Hausa literature (1876) by James Frederick Schön (London: Church Missionary House, 1876)
-- Grammar of the Hausa language (1862) by Rev. J. F. Schön (London: Church Missionary House, 1862)
-- Hausa grammar, with exercises, readings, and vocabularies (1905) by Charles H. Robinson & Maj. J. Alder Burdon (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1905)
-- Hausa proverbs (1905) by Capt. G. Merrick (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1905)
-- Magána Hausa: native literature or proverbs, tales, fables and historical fragments in the Hausa language (1885) by J.F. Schön (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1885)
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Gumel.Com: Barka da zuwa filin Hausa (Mohammed Hashim Gumel, USA)
A web site entirely in Hausa, with news from Nigeria (in English, from Nigerian newspapers or e-mail reports), Hausa radio program files, cultural information, and related links.
- Hausa : basic course. (1963) By Carleton T. Hodge and Ibrahim Umaru. [Washington, DC: Foreign Service Institute, Department of State, 1963 ; 399 pages] PDF format. (FSI Language Courses, USA)
--Audio lessons
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Hausa Home Page (University of California, Los Angeles)
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K'ofar Hausa: The Online Dictionary (Franz Stoiber et al., Afrikanistik, Universität Wien, Austria)
A searchable dictionary in Hausa, English or German, with frequent updates. As of October 2001, the authors claim to include about 9000 Hausa key-words.
- Online Bargery Hausa-English Dictionary (1934) (via Bunkyo University, Tokyo, Japan)
A searchable online "dictionary" (glossary) for Hausa-English, English-Hausa translation, based on the dictionary and vocabulary by Rev. George Percy Bargery, originally published in 1934, containing over 45,000 words.
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Igbo on the Internet
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Igbo Open Source Translation Project (USA)
This site --under construction-- includes project-related links and contact information. "This project aims to translate popular software for the Linux operating system, including Gnome, KDE, Mozilla, Thunderbird and Open Office into Igbo."
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IgboNet -- The Igbo Network (Igbo Heritage, Inc., USA)
- African Language Research Project: Electronic Lexicon (Igbo-English). Sponsored by the ALRP. (Department of English and Modern Languages, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, Maryland)
- Intellectuels non europhones. par Ousmane Kane. Document de travail. -- Dakar, Sénégal: Conseil pour le développement de la recherche en sciences sociales en Afrique (CODESRIA), c2003. (Format PDF)
- International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions: "Sources for African language materials from the countries of Anglophone Africa." (1995) by Alfred Kagan. (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) 61st IFLA General Conference, Conference Proceedings, August 20-25, 1995. (IFLANET; via Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique, France)
- ISOLA--International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (USA)
"The Society was established in 1991 in London and it draws its international membership from experts and students involved in the exploration of the oral traditions of Africa and the African Diaspora...organizes regular scholarly conferences: London, UK (1991); Legon, Ghana (1995); Cape Town, South Africa (1998); Chambery, France (2002); Banjul, Gambia (2004); and, Trinidad and Tobago (2006); and Lecce, Italy (July 2008)."
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The Internet and African Languages -- Research
- LLACAN--Langage, Langues et cultures d'Afrique noire (Villejuif, France)
"Le Llacan...est une Unité Mixte de Recherche qui associe le CNRS et l'Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco) autour d'un projet scientifique d'étude et de description des langues de l'Afrique subsaharienne." Ce site offre l'accés à plusieurs bases de données, une revue sur la langue bamanankan-- Mandekan, un catalogue des fonds documentaires dans une grande bibliothèque de linguistique, les listes des publications des membres de l'équipe du LLACAN, etc.
- Luba-Kasai/Luba-Lulua -- Cilubà Language Resources and Online Dictionaries (David Joffe, AfricanLanguages.Com, Pretoria, South Africa)
- For Luganda Language Resources, see: Buganda Home Page -and- Bukedde above
- Maasai Language Project (Doris L. Payne et al., Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon)
The web site offers a description of the project and a set of texts on the history and major features of the Maa language spoken in Kenya and Tanzania.
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Malagasy = Malgache
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Mandekan. (Online): Numeros sélectionnés et Tables de matières. -- Villejuif, France: LLACAN--Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire, 1981-
Un bulletin spécialisé des études linguistiques mandé...paraît environ 2 fois par an.
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Mandinka and Wolof Resources (Momodou Camara, DAPAMDA--Danish Association for Promotion of African Music, Drama & Art, Copenhagen)
- Mandinka Language Work Book. Written by Adam Njie, Bakary Camara, Muhammadou M.S. Bah ; edited by Sarjo Dumbuya. -- Washington, DC: Peace Corps/The Gambia, c2007. 83 pages in WORD format
- Kandeer-Manjaku.Com: le site de référence de la langue et de la culture Manjaku dans la diversité de leurs aspects.
(René Gomis, France?)
- Michigan State University: Webbook of African Language Resources In consultation with the African Language Teachers Association. (East Lansing, Michigan)
An extensive bibliographic database of publications and resources for African language study.
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National African Language Resource Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
- "The National African Language Resource Center is a federally funded, nonprofit national foreign language center dedicated to the advancement of African language teaching and learning in the United States."
- African Language Program Inventory List (2001)
- Niger-Congo Noun Class Studies: A Bibliographical Survey, compiled by Jouni Filip Maho (2007) Electronic bibliography for African languages and linguistics. (via Stockholm, Sweden)
- Nilo-Saharan Newsletter = Informations nilo-sahariennes (via CNRS-LLACAN, Villejuif, France)
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N'ko -- The Mandingo Language Site (Mamadi Baba Diané, Washington, DC)
A site --in English, French, Arabic, and Mandekan in N'ko script-- about the N'ko script, with links to the major web sites on the subject in France, Belgium, United States, and Africa. There is also a list of books published in the N'ko script.
- Babawilly's Dictionary of Pidgin English Words and Phrases (Lagos Pidgin) (via NigeriaExchange.Com; Dearborn, Michigan and Lagos, Nigeria)
- For Pulaar or Peul, see: Fula Language on the Internet
- SCALI--Summer Cooperative African Language Institute, June 15--August 7, 2009, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
"...the national SCALI during the summer session...offers performance-based instruction in a variety of African languages by experienced and trained instructors who are native speakers of the languages they teach." SCALI 2008 was held at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
- Sereer dans << Conte-Moi la Francophonie >> : Contes du Sénégal Pour enfants(Paris, France)
Veuillez voir surtout les fichiers sonores en sereer et les textes en français.
- Sesotho on the Web
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Shona Language Resources
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Introduction to the Shona Language (Cameron Smith, UK)
Brief lessons in Shona and links to Shona language-related sites.
- ALLEX Project--African Languages Lexical Project (University of Oslo, Norway)
The website includes online versions of whole dictionaries and text corpora for Shona and Ndebele. "The ALLEX Project seeks ...to provide dictionaries and other language tools for the African languages used in Zimbabwe; to train Zimbabwean linguists at the University of Zimbabwe as lexicographers and practical language planners; to lay the foundation for a centre for lexicography and language planning for the native languages of Southern Africa; and to improve research opportunities in linguistics."
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University of Florida Libraries' "George Fortune Collection" of Shona and Other African Language Materials (Dan Reboussin; George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida)
An online index to holdings in SHONA especially ... but also: Nguni (Ndebele, Zulu, and Xhosa) and Sotho. The materials span the years 1868-1983 and include some 1,800 items. 'The collection also includes a significant complement of Central and Eastern Bantu materials and a component of West African language materials.'
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SIL International (Dallas, Texas)
- The web site includes a newsletter, online publications (PDF format), and links to related matters---including SIL's well-known reference publication: Ethnologue. "Founded 70 years ago (originally as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), SIL International is a faith-based organization that studies, documents, and assists in developing the world's lesser known languages. SIL's staff shares a Christian commitment to service, academic excellence, and professional engagement through literacy, linguistics, translation, and other academic disciplines."
- SIL International Home Page
- "A preliminary report of existing information on the Manding languages of West Africa" (2004). By Terrence D. Sullivan.
- "Bwa Bloc Survey Report" (2004). By Douglas W. Boone, Kenneth S. Olson.
- "An evaluation of Niger-Congo Classification" (2004). By Kenneth S. Olson.
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SomaliNet (Kendid Communications, Toronto, Canada)
An extensive Internet portal site in English and Soomaali on Somalia and the Somali diaspora; includes current news in English from major Western news agencies.
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Soninkara (Paris, France)
- South African Languages
- Publishers' Association of South Africa: Writings in Nine Tongues -- Catalogue of Publications: Ndebele, Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho/Sesotho sa laboa, Setswana, Siswati, Venda, Tsonga.
(Green Point, South Africa)
Zip files/PDF format
- SAlanguages.com (Jake Olivier, South Africa)
This site provides general information about South Africa's 11 official languages (and several unofficial ones), with brief grammars, pronunciation guides, suggested textbooks, bibliographies on academic research, and links to related web sites for each language.
- Sesotho on the Web
- South African Voices University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. (Madison, Wisconsin)
"South African Voices is a three-volume work that includes: A Long Time Passed, Created in Olden Times, and The Way We Travelled: Oral History and Poetry. This work consists of electronic audio files and transcribed written texts of oral traditions and histories, poetry, folktales, and stories in Xhosa, Zulu, and Siswati collected, transcribed, and edited by Professor Harold Scheub.
- Xhosa on the Web
- Zulu Language on the Internet
- Sudlangues. (Online) -- Dakar, Sénégal: La Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines de l'Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, 2002-
<< [Cette revue] est destinée aux universitaires, enseignants, chercheurs et étudiants intervenant dans le secteur des sciences du langage. Elle est ouverte à tous les chercheurs du monde, et accordera une attention toute particulière à ceux du sud, plus confrontés à des problèmes d'édition.>>
- Swahili Language on the Internet (Columbia University Libraries)
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The Languages of Tanzania: A Web Link Collection (Jouni Maho and Bonny Sands, Göteborgs Universitet, Institutionen för orientaliska och afrikanska sprâk, Sweden) Appendix to: The languages of Tanzania: a bibliography. (forthcoming 2002)
An extensive listing of links to documents, grammars, dictionaries, related articles on the Web.
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TAMA 2003 South Africa--Technology in Advanced Management Applications Conference, 17-21 February 2003, Pretoria, South Africa: "Multilingual Knowledge and Technology Transfer."
This website contains general information, thematic outlines and the programme. Warning: no abstracts.
- "Traitement informatique des langues africaines: problèmes et perspectives" (décembre 1995). Par Emile Camara [...et alli.] ALAF-Action de Recherche Partagée AUPELF-UREF. (Laboratoire Parole et Langage, Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France)
- Twi Language Resources LangMedia--Resources for World Languages (Five College Center for the Study of World Languages, University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
The site includes "Beginning Twi Course Guide" (text and audio) -and- LangMedia Twi in Ghana: a video and text collection for an elementary Twi course.
- Ugandan and English Language "Discussion Topics" from The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS, Cape Town, South Africa)
These web pages, part of a larger website for CASAS, feature brief reports on various community education and social research topics in English and in several Ugandan languages--Luganda/Lusoga, Acholi/Lango, Runyakitara, and Ateso/Karimojong (with spoken word accompaniment).
- Web Resources for African Languages (Jouni F. Maho, Göteborg University, Södra Anneberg, Partille, Sweden)
A basic introduction to African language classification and selected links to African linguistic studies for each major language---online articles and conference proceedings, etc.; plus links to conference web sites, selected online journals, and related web pages, etc.
- Wolof Language on the Internet (Columbia University Libraries)
- WOCAL--World Congress of African Linguistics (See Conferences above)
- Xhosa -- Web Resources for African Languages (Jouni F. Maho, Partille, Sweden)
A collection of links to sites with e-books, full text journal articles, theses, and working papers, and other resources...especially on Xhosa linguistics.
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Yoruba on the Web
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Zarma Dictionary = Dictionnaire Zarma Bisharat! (The Netherlands)
A short multilingual dictionary originally developed by the U.S. Peace Corps, Niger, revised 2001 and 2004.
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Languages of Zambia Page (Lee S. Bickmore, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Albany)
A list of languages of Zambia and related links on Zambia.
- Zulu Language on the Internet
- Columbia University: Zulu Language Acquisitions at Columbia University Libraries (June 2009)
(New York)
- Google Books -- Historical Zulu
-- First steps in Zulu: being an elementary grammar of the Zulu language (1903) by Rt. Rev. J. W. Colenso (Pietermaritzburg & Durban: Vause, Slatter & Co., 1903)
-- The IsiZulu: a revised edition of a grammar of the Zulu language (1893) by Rev. Lewis Grout (Boston: American Board Commissioners for Foreign Mission, 1893)
-- A Zulu-English dictionary, with notes on prononciation...a synopsis of Zulu grammar and a concise history of the Zulu people from the most ancient times (1905) by Alfred T. Bryant (Pietermaritzburg & Durban: P. Davis & Sons ; Cape Town, Johannesburg, & Durban: J.C. Juta, 1905)
-- A Zulu manual, or Vade-mecum (1900) by Rev. Charles Roberts (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1900)
- Google.Com -- IsiZulu (USA)
Search the web using Google web search engine in IsiZulu!
- isiZulu.net: Zulu-English/English-Zulu online dictionary (via Schlund & Partner, Karlsruhe, Germany)
An online dictionary, with some sample audio files, based on African Voices publications from South Africa, and compiled with TshwaneLex software.
- Isolezwe. (Online) -- Cape Town ; Johannesburg: Independent Online Ltd., 2006-
A subscription is required for this online version of a daily newspaper in the Zulu language from South Africa.
- Jason Wolfe's English to Zulu Medical Dictionary (1998) (London, UK)
- South African Voices. University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. (See above)
- United Nations. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: Umbhalo ogcwele wogunyazo lwamalungelo Oluntu jikelele Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(Geneva, Switzerland)
- Web Resources for African Languages -- Zulu (Jouni F. Maho, Partille, Sweden)
A collection of links to sites with e-books, full text documents, and other web sites...especially on Zulu linguistics.
- Wordgumbo: English-Zulu/Zulu-English lexicons (USA)
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