When Anthony Otaigbe set out to learn his traditional language of Esan, little did he know that he was going to start a language learning community for African languages. This is the story of Izesan!, an e-learning platform for African languages.
In Africa—where cultural diversity thrives—languages form the heartbeat of each community. Yet, despite their rich historical significance, many indigenous African languages run the risk of extinction due, in part, to the lack of proper documentation. For Anthony Otaigbe, who was born and raised in the US, this barrier is familiar. “Learning my own language was very difficult because there were really no resources out there,” he told TechCabal. “I had to make Herculean efforts, just to learn what I felt I should have known since childhood.” Otaigbe had to go the extra mile to learn his indigenous language—Esan—a language spoken by the Esan tribe in southern Nigeria. “I reached out to my parents, uncles and aunts,…
