The Native American culture is one that has been mostly ignored by PC operating systems in terms of supporting their native languages. That is starting to change as a result of a collaboration between Microsoft and the Cherokee Nation that has results in the release of a new new Language Interface Pack for Windows 8.
The Microsoft Corporate Citizenship blog has announced that the Cherokee language pack in Windows 8 was released as part of the Microsoft Local Language Program. The Register reports that Cherokee Nation volunteers translated 180,000 words in the past 18 months to be included in the Cherokee language pack.
There were some issues in putting in words in the language pack that are not normally a part of the Cherokee vocabulary. The blog states:
When terminology did not exist, the translation team had to rely on elders or ancient texts for reference in order to assist in creating a new word as required for the translation. In addition, a new modern sans-serif user interface font Gadugi - the Cherokee word for “working together” - was developed to allow the localization and maintain the Windows 8 design style.
In addition to the new Windows 8 support, the Cherokee language pack will also be made available for the upcoming launch of Microsoft Office 2013.
Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft
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