A Kenyan indigenous language – based communication mobile application

Date
2020
Authors
Kitali, Gloria Mutheu
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Indigenous languages, commonly known as mother tongue are an important part of a person’s identity. These are the languages in which we first interact with the world and which shape our identity based on the culture attached to them. Many Kenyans who were raised in urban areas have little knowledge of their mother tongue. This lack of knowledge deprives them of the ability to experience their culture and interact with their elders and other relatives who speak only mother tongue. In contrast, those raised in rural areas mainly spoke mother tongue while learning some English and Kiswahili in school. Therefore, mother tongue was their fluent language while their skills in the other two languages were not sharpened. Facing this problem, there is an opportunity that presents itself. These two groups of people can learn from each other and improve their knowledge of these languages together. This can be done through a language exchange application. As most people have smartphones in these times, these parties are able to find each other and interact. The project has proposed a mobile application through which interested learners would be able to discover each other and communicate through chat. An object-oriented approach will be taken in the development of the solution that will solve the above stated problem. The tools that will be used in project development will include Dart programming language which is utilized through the flutter framework, along with Firebase database tools. In conclusion, the project benefits Kenyan adults by providing an application for them to learn more about their culture, mother tongue and for the other side to learn more about the world and communicate effectively in English and Kiswahili.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Bachelor of Business in Information Technology at Strathmore University
Keywords
Mother tongue, Android, Language exchange
Citation