{"id":66835,"date":"2026-02-17T19:09:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages"},"modified":"2026-02-17T21:20:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T21:20:24","slug":"google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages","title":{"rendered":"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong> <\/span>Google, collaborating with research institutions across Africa, has introduced WAXAL, an extensive open-access speech dataset aimed at improving AI technologies for African languages.<\/p>\n<p>The dataset features voice samples from 21 Sub-Saharan African languages, including Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Luganda, Swahili, and Acholi. Google states that WAXAL aims to serve more than 100 million speakers who have historically been excluded from voice-enabled technologies because of limited high-quality language resources.<\/p>\n<p>Voice-activated assistants, transcription services, and other speech-driven technologies are widespread globally. Yet, Africa\u2019s more than 2,000 languages have largely been overlooked in AI development due to scarce speech data, creating a digital gap that limits millions from accessing voice-enabled solutions in education, healthcare, and business.<\/p>\n<p>To bridge this gap, WAXAL was created over a three-year period with funding from Google. The dataset includes 1,250 hours of transcribed natural speech and over 20 hours of premium studio recordings, enabling the development of lifelike synthetic voices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe real significance of WAXAL lies in empowering communities across Africa,\u201d says Aisha Walcott-Bryantt, Head of Google Research Africa. \u201cBy offering a vital resource for students, researchers, and entrepreneurs to develop technology in their native languages, this dataset opens access to over 100 million people on their own terms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Community participation was central to the project. African universities and organizations such as Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Ghana, and Digital Umuganda in Rwanda spearheaded the data collection efforts, with guidance from Google researchers.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike numerous international datasets, the data remains under the ownership of the partner institutions. This arrangement allows African researchers and students to create their own applications and tools independently, without depending on external corporations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor artificial intelligence to truly serve Africa, it must understand our languages and cultural contexts,\u201d emphasizes Joyce Nakatumba-Nabende, Senior Lecturer at Makerere University. \u201cThe WAXAL dataset provides our researchers with the quality data required to develop speech technologies that accurately represent our diverse communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the University of Ghana, more than 7,000 volunteers lent their voices to the initiative. Professor Isaac Wiafe, an Associate Professor at the university, explains that this effort is fostering innovation across sectors like healthcare, education, and agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>The WAXAL dataset is now open to the public, providing developers, researchers, and startups with essential speech data to create more inclusive AI solutions throughout Africa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Lesotho<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. Google, collaborating with research institutions across Africa, has introduced WAXAL, an extensive open-access speech dataset aimed at improving AI technologies for African languages. The dataset features voice samples from 21 Sub-Saharan African languages, including Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Luganda, Swahili, and Acholi. Google states that WAXAL aims to serve more than 100 million [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":66834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-66835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. Google, collaborating with rese ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. Google, collaborating with rese ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T19:09:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T21:20:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-17T19:09:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-17T21:20:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages\"},\"wordCount\":394,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages\",\"name\":\"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-17T19:09:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-17T21:20:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. Google, collaborating with rese ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages - Lesotho","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. Google, collaborating with rese ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. Google, collaborating with rese ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-02-17T19:09:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-17T21:20:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages","datePublished":"2026-02-17T19:09:42+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-17T21:20:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages"},"wordCount":394,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg","keywords":["Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","miscellaneous"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages","name":"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-17T19:09:42+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-17T21:20:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. Google, collaborating with rese ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/02\/sm_1771362825.507728.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/google-and-african-institutions-empower-indigenous-languages#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Google and African Institutions Empower Indigenous Languages"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}