Africa today is advancing and becoming a more modern and stable society. African culture was considered primitive a few decades ago but with the blend of modernization, a new outlook of Africa has emerged which has baffled everyone in the world. Foreign investors are seeing Africa from a new perspective and this influx of foreign investment has also resulted in a need for translators of various languages. Most of the African countries were either French or Portuguese colonies, therefore apart from Arabic, often French and Portuguese is the official language in African countries. Foreign investors therefore need the services of French and Portuguese translators/interpreters on their business trips to Africa.
The President of United States, Barrack Obama, recently went on an official visit to Senegal. He praised Senegal over making tremendous strides for economic and political stability. He brought the attention of the world towards the fact that Senegal has never suffered a military coup and has always gone through a smooth democratic transition. The elections in Senegal have always been free and fair, President Obama stated. Coming from the President of a super power, this is high praise. The country has over the years improved in the social sector whereby now more Senegalese are receiving education and infection rates of HIV and AIDS have been kept relatively low. United States also showed keen interest in helping Senegal improve its agriculture sector as agriculture is the backbone of any country’s economy. The President on his visit to Senegal promised helping the local farmers harness new seeds and technologies in order to improve yields. The local farmers can be tutored in the ways of modern farming but professional translators would be needed for this purpose.
Not only Senegal but other African countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Niger, Ghana and Rwanda have shown promises to develop into stable democracies. Many of these African countries are following in the footsteps of developed countries, introducing the same reforms as introduced by countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. This is indeed a very positive change which has proved to be shocking for many foreign observers. Rwanda’s capital Kigali is astonishingly clean as the public has set up a “cleaning day” in the city when everyone has to take part in cleaning the city and picking up refuse. Similarly Senegal is no longer the under-developed country it was thought to be a few years ago. It is promoting its trade with other African countries, not to mention with Europe and Asia. The official language of Senegal is French, inherited from the colonial era. The countries dealing with Senegal will need to engage French translators/ interpreters on their official visits to Senegal.
All this progress affirms that the country is going into the right direction and the new Senegalese generation will have more opportunities than their fathers and grandfathers had. But progression in any matter requires constant struggle and Senegal has still a lot to do to in terms of improvement. It has to explore new ways to boost its economy and like the East African countries it has to develop its infrastructure to enhance trade opportunities. Senegal needs to be more active in world politics to carve its niche in today’s world.
The Eastern Africa on the other hand has discovered new oil and gas reserves and foreign investment is now flowing towards it. New infrastructure has been built in Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Egypt, Sudan and Libya with foreign aid. It will take some time before the real benefits of these new discoveries will be reaped by the common people. But this recent development has created more job opportunities in the petroleum sector and thereby the need for the translation services of more translators.
