Languages

We publish in English

A platform for the Horn of Africa should not be readable in only one of its languages. It currently is, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.

Where this stands

Every article on Hornafrika is written and published in English. There is no translated edition yet, and no machine-translated one either — an automatic translation of a contested security story is a good way to publish something we never said.

What is planned

Somali

SoomaaliPlanned

The first language of most readers in Somalia, Djibouti and the Somali Region of Ethiopia, and of much of the diaspora.

Amharic

አማርኛPlanned

Ethiopia's federal working language, and the largest single readership in the region.

Arabic

العربيةPlanned

An official language in both Somalia and Djibouti, and the language much of the Gulf coverage of this region is written in.

Tigrinya

ትግርኛPlanned

Spoken across Eritrea and Tigray — the part of the Horn our English coverage reaches least well.

French

FrançaisPlanned

Djibouti's administrative language, and the language of most Djiboutian public record.

The honest order

Interface translation is the easy half and the less useful one. A reader who cannot read the articles is not helped by a translated navigation bar. So languages will arrive a whole edition at a time — navigation, section pages and articles together — rather than as a switcher that changes the menus and leaves the journalism in English.

If you can help

We are looking for translators and, better still, reporters who file in these languages first. If that is you, write to newsroom@hornafrika.com — see also careers.