Kiswahili Translation in Digital Media Platforms: Bridging Language Gaps in the AI Age

Purpose: As digital media platforms continue to proliferate globally, the need for multilingual content in these platforms has become increasingly apparent. Translation of online content is a necessity for netizens and other digital platform users who seek knowledge and information around a myriad of user-generated content on diverse issues and topics. Being a widely spoken language that goes beyond the borders of East Africa, Kiswahili’s significance in bridging linguistic barriers and facilitating communication and information access for Kiswahili speakers is clear. The purpose of this exploratory research paper was to examine the state of Kiswahili as a language of translation through different technologies across varied translation apps and social media platforms such as Facebook, You Tube, Tik Tok and Netflix. Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive research design. Data collection was done through online data mining tools including API access for web scrapping and manual extraction of content through random search engine searches. The data for the study included 10 sentences, 10 videos and 25 specific word forms such as proverbs, spiritual/religious words, similes and cultural words for food, beauty and family ties. Content analysis for both text and multimedia content such as written sentences, social media posts and videos was done. The study analyzed translation outputs of 14 Kiswahili translation apps in order to establish the status and accuracy of these translations. Of key consideration was the role of AI technology in the translation apps and the effect it has on the translated texts across different apps. The challenges and emerging issues facing Kiswahili translation through digital technologies were also explored. Findings: The findings of this study showed that the Apps used for Kiswahili translation have demonstrated great translation accuracy in basic semantic forms, with an average score of 60% accuracy upon random searches and between 10-30% accuracy for cultural forms and idiomatic expressions. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study was guided by the Skopos theory by Hans Vermeer (1978) which was complemented by the Relevance Theory by Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson (1986). These Apps seem to have the feature of interoperability in that they seem to produce the same results suggesting that the AI supported feature in the apps may be interconnecting the apps during translation. The study advocates for more AI integration translation apps as this will help standardize Kiswahili translation corpus.