Ciyawo-English Dictionary Project

I had a journal article published last week in the peer reviewed journal, Lexikos. It is a description of the ‘Why, What and How’ of our Ciyawo-English Dictionary Project. The article is titled:

“Where Tools Are Few: Constructing Limited-Word Bilingual Learner's Dictionaries in a Low-Resourced Community in Malawi"

The article is available free to download at this link:

https://lexikos.journals.ac.za/pub

The abstract for the article is below for you’re interest.

Afrilex 2025
I presented a paper titled, “Where Tools Are Few: Constructing Limited-word, Bilingual Learner’s Dictionaries in a Low Resourced Community in Malawi” at Afrilex this week in Cape Town. Afrilex is the premier lexicography conference of Southern Africa. My paper was received well and I will look forward to seeing it published in the near future, hopefully in Lexikos. It was good to catch up with Lorna Morris who was a consulting editor on our project, and great to meet Evans Lwara, a Malawian academic who presented a great paper titled, "Disability Related Words in General Malawian Dictionaries" that he co-authored with Deborah Ndalama-Mtawali and Luckia Emment, a woman who worked in our CEDP office. My presentation at Afrilex marks the conclusion of an 18 year journey with the Ciyawo-English Dictionary Project. The dictionary will go on and continue to be supported, but the main work is now complete. Well done to all who have been involved and supported this great work.

We have just updated the sound files in our two dictionary apps – the English-Ciyawo Learner’s Dictionary and the Ciyawo-English Learner’s Dictionary – for both Android and Apple smartphones. You can now hear a native speaker of English and Ciyawo pronounce more than 3,000 headwords in each dictionary. These are great tools that will help you grow your ability to understand and speak English and Ciyawo. Please update your Apps in Google Play or on the Apple App Store to benefit from these latest changes.

The Ciyawo-English Dictionary App and the English-Ciyawo Dictionary App on Android and iPhones now have audio files added to them so that learners of English and Ciyawo can hear the headwords articulated by native speakers of those languages. This takes these two learners' dictionaries to the next level in helping learners grow their language capacity. If you have these Apps make sure that you update them to take advantage of the latest features. Best of all these updated apps are free of charge!

https://apps.apple.com/au/app/ciyawo-english-dictionary/id6471535892

https://apps.apple.com/au/app/english-ciyawo-dictionary/id6471535621

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.gia.cedp.ciyawo.english.learners.dictionary

https://play.google.com/store/search?q=english-ciyawo&c=apps

‎English-Ciyawo Dictionary

Last week we audio recorded native speakers speaking the English and Ciyawo headwords from our two dictionaries so that we can add sound links to our two smartphone dictionary apps which will then enable people to hear the headwords as a native speaker would pronounce them.

Last week the Ciyawo-English Dictionary Project team worked on developing learning outcomes and seminar outlines for teaching upper primary and lower secondary students and teachers about how to use a dictionary and how to use the English-Ciyawo smartphone dictionary applications that we have developed. We will teach these highly interactive seminars in around 60 schools in the Mangochi District of Malawi in 2024.

I am pleased to announce that we have recently completed the iPhone Apps for our two dictionaries and have submitted them to Oxford University Press for approval. Once approved we will apply for them to be listed on the Apple App Store.

Where to buy the Ciyawo-English Dictionary in Malawi?

Lilongwe:
Chambo Market, in the Old Town Mall.

Blantyre:
DK Stationers, Haile Selassie Ave, Blantyre.
La Caverna, Mandala Rd, Blantyre.

Mangochi:
Radio Lilanguka, Mangochi.

Worldwide:
African Books Collective

https://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/ciyawo-cingelesi-dikishonale-ja-wakulijiganya-learners-dictionary-ciyawo-english