Meet Tochi Precious, Igbo language activist

Photo provided by Tochi Precious.

In 2019 as part of a social media campaign to celebrate linguistic diversity online, African language activists and advocates will be taking turns managing the @DigiAfricanLang Twitter account to share their experiences with the revitalization and promotion of African languages. This profile post is about Tochi Precious (@Tochiprecious3) and what she plans to discuss during her week as host.

Rising Voices: Please tell us about yourself.

My name is Tochi Precious Friday (Adaugo), a multi-linguist, founder of Smarter Languages Academy, one of the founding members of Igbo Wikimedians User Group and a German language teacher.

RV: What is the current status of your language on the internet and offline?

According to UNESCO, the Igbo Language has been marked out as one of the languages that would go extinct. Also, on the internet, there's not much activity in Igbo Language aside the conscious efforts of a few persons like: @IgboFactsandHistory, @Igboproverbs and the others on Twitter, as well as Google Translate, so we need more efforts.

RV: On what topics do you plan to focus during the week that you’ll manage the @DigiAfricanLang Twitter account?

My number 1 goal is to share why it's important to localize our tools and content in Igbo Language.I also will share a number of Igbo proverbs, discuss and outline how Igbos can begin contributing on Igbo Wikipedia, Igbo Wiktionary, join a Wiki Igbo Hub near them and also the kind of content that can be shared.
I also will discuss how the Igbo Language can be revived.

RV: What are the main motivations for your digital activism for your language? What are your hopes and dreams for your language?

To promote Igbo Language, digitize content in Igbo Language, and make it available to everyone. To also get anyone who is literate in Igbo Language to contribute to the different Igbo Language Wikimedia projects.

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