The world number one search engine, Google has scored another first. Google has added an Akan version to its search engine on the Ghana page.
I was browsing Google Wednesday morning July 1, 2009, which is Republic Day in the country and the Ghana page appears in Akan!
All the information links are in Akan, even though one would not find information in Akan. This is obviously a great step in bringing people who are comfortable with the Akan language closer to Google and to the worldwide web.
This remarkable attempt by Google, is indeed making the search engine all encompassing and bringing the internet much closer to a greater number of people, confirming further that the internet drives the world.
The Akan language is widely spoken among the people of Ghana, including a large percentage of the Ghanaian population who are not Akans.
Figures from the Ghana Population Census of 2000 show that the total population of Ghana was 18,800,000 people of which 49.1% were Akans (approximately 9,230,800). The Akan people are found mainly in the southern half of Ghana, as well as in the neighbouring country of Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) on Ghana’s western border. Population estimates available on March 2007 show that Cote d’Ivoire has a population of 17,654,843 people of which 42.1% are Akans (approximately 7,432,689).
The Akan speaking groups of Ghana (with percentage of the total Ghanaian population in brackets) include the Agona (1.4%), Ahafo (1.1%), Ahanta (1.5%), Akuapem (2.9%), Akwamu (0.6%), Akyem (3.4%), Aowin (0.6%), Asante (14.8%), Assin (0.8%), Brong (4.6%), Chokosi (0.4%), Denkyira (0.5%), Evalue (0.1%), Fante (9.9%), Kwahu (1.9%), Nzema (1.2%), Sefwi (1.2%) and Wassa (1.4%).
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi