The Linguist

FEATURES published rates. Procurement compliance must become a condition of grant funding for NGOs delivering services in local languages. 3. Invest in infrastructure Inconsistent terminology and non- standardised spelling slow every translation project and are repeatedly cited as a core technical barrier in the sector. This is solvable infrastructure, not an inherent limitation of the languages themselves. We can achieve this by funding shared, open terminology banks and standardised orthographies for major African language families, coordinated across the countries that share a language, such as Hausa across Nigeria and Niger, and Swahili across East Africa. Language institutes and initiatives such as Masakhane can be tasked with maintaining public terminology databases, jointly funded by governments and the development agencies that depend on this work to reach the populations they serve. 4. Build collective networks A freelancer negotiating alone against an institutional buyer has no leverage. Aggregation is how every established profession converted individual skill into collective bargaining power. It is important to build professional networks and strengthen membership associations that let us negotiate collectively, share rate data and hold one another to common standards. This is the structural gap networks such as the Marketplace for African Translators and Interpreters (MATI), the African Languages Translators and Teachers network (ALATT) and the Association of Language Companies in Africa (ALCA) were built to close. No single network solves the whole problem, but this connectivity is what lets the other four actions function in practice rather than remaining policy statements. 5. Publish market data Africa's language sector is currently invisible in the data that shapes policy and investment decisions. Yet a sector that cannot be measured cannot be professionalised, and a rate floor that doesn't exist in public cannot be enforced. Hence the need to commend ALCA's 2026 African language industry report, covering workforce size, rates by language and region, and demand trends, comparable to what Nimdzi or Statista provide for global markets. I join ALCA, ALATT and MATI members in calling on universities, language associations and development funders to co-fund this work to improve the depth of research, data collection and findings. The question that matters None of these five actions requires new technology. They require institutions – African and international – to treat language work the way they already treat every other skilled profession: with certification/ accreditation, enforced minimum standards and public data. The next translator who is asked to render a legal notice into Kanuri, or a health leaflet in Twi, should not have to accept whatever rate is offered. The question for every institution is straightforward: does your organisation's language sourcing currently depend on the absence of industry standards or are you willing to help build them? COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE Christian Elongue speaks at an event for language professionals in Accra, Ghana

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