DEBIAN, a global computer operating system, aims to add Jamaican English, or Patois, to its installer in order to widen its coverage, according to the project translator, Michelle 'Afifa' Harris.
Its the latest drive to represent the language in formal settings. "When you read the instructions to install software, a lot of time people do not understand what it says. You just press 'Next'. So [Patois] will bring a level of basic understanding to a technical process," she told the Observer in an interview at Cafe Blue in Kingston on Thursday.
Harris, a manager and doctoral student was selected by Debian as the only Jamaican to translate starting January. It was part of a women in technology grant. Harris indicated that offering the installer in Patois removes a linguistic disconnect.
Currently, the Debian software installer is in some 14 languages and website translations in some 36 languages. The project will use the term Jamaican English rather than Patois to describe the language.
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