A Tanzanian journalist and medical doctor who has just launched the first science newspaper in Swahili has told the BBC the venture is a dream come true.
Syriacus Buguzi says communicating science in a language that most people understand is extremely important.
MwanaSayansi, launched on Monday, aims to bridge the gap between researchers and their audience.
“English globally is dominant in terms of research dissemination but then for Swahili speakers it’s like denying them an opportunity if you are not communicating to them regularly about science [in Swahili] you are denying them information,” he told BBC Focus on Africa radio presenter Paul Bakibinga.
Swahili is a lingua franca across East Africa and is spoken by about 200 million people, according to the UN.
Buguzi says the project has also had its challenges as some translations are tricky for scientific terms such as “artificial intelligence”, which in one translation sounds like “fake knowledge”.
He said it was an opportunity to engage with the council that deals with the Swahili language to find appropriate terminology and broaden understanding.
