Sitting next to someone who can type at speed in Tigrinian using a QWERTY keyboard to make the symbols used in the fidel script is worth watching. They use a program called Visual Geez which, when installed, allows the 230 or more symbols to be created using combinations of our 26 letters (and a Ctrl or Alt or two). I tried to replicate one word and it took 30 minutes. This task is made more interesting when they are translating an English document, as of course it is not as simple as word for word.
This I think begs the question about the use of English around the world. You see, when they start school in Ethiopia they use their local language (generally one of 3: Amharic, Tigrinya or Oromo). Later they all learn Amharic (the national language) and after that English. Why English? Not just because it is seen as the language to know, to help get you on in life, but in a large part because the vast majority of the school textbooks are in English. This is of course due to our kind donation of our old textbooks from the 50s (tongue firmly wedged in cheek). So the upshot, you have children learning all subjects in their third language from texts that most of our children I believe would struggle to follow. Having said that, those that continue through the entire education process sometimes have a far better grasp of grammar and vocabulary than me. (How ironic, Word has just underlined the last sentence in green).
VSO (who work at the Ministry of Education) are in favour for all subjects to be taught in their local language. However, that of course relies on each teacher being able to convert (not just translate) all key information onto a board or rewrite the book. The government, I think, firmly believe that speaking English is a sign of intelligence and will continue to use English as the Language of Instruction.
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