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| Facebook Swahili version launched | Facebook Swahili version launched |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| The social-networking website Facebook has launched in Swahili, targeting more than 110m speakers of the language. | The social-networking website Facebook has launched in Swahili, targeting more than 110m speakers of the language. |
| A group of Swahili scholars launched the new version with the permission of the California-based internet firm. | A group of Swahili scholars launched the new version with the permission of the California-based internet firm. |
| Facebook use has spread over the past five years in East and Central Africa, where most Swahili-speakers live. | Facebook use has spread over the past five years in East and Central Africa, where most Swahili-speakers live. |
| Analysts say a Hausa version could be launched next in West Africa and Zulu for southern Africa. Facebook already exists in Afrikaans. | |
| Symon Wanda, one of the project's initiators, said they wanted to launch a Swahili version to safeguard the future of the language. | Symon Wanda, one of the project's initiators, said they wanted to launch a Swahili version to safeguard the future of the language. |
| "The youth, the future generation, if you look at the biggest percentage of users on Facebook, they are the youth," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme. | "The youth, the future generation, if you look at the biggest percentage of users on Facebook, they are the youth," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme. |
| "They can easily navigate through when it's maybe a language they understand, which makes it easier to use the Swahili than to use the English." | "They can easily navigate through when it's maybe a language they understand, which makes it easier to use the Swahili than to use the English." |
| The BBC's Ruth Nesoba, in Nairobi, says the Swahili site has already been on trial for some time. | |
| Word spread quickly and she says more than 60% of Facebook users in East Africa are already using the Swahili version. | |
| The bulk of Swahili-speakers live in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, parts of the Horn of Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and the Indian Ocean islands. | The bulk of Swahili-speakers live in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, parts of the Horn of Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and the Indian Ocean islands. |
| Facebook already exists in some 50 language versions. | Facebook already exists in some 50 language versions. |