New App Aims To Promote Nubian Language Through Technology

A new Nubian app is attempting to both preserve and promote Nubian heritage in this digital-oriented age by teaching the language to the younger generations of Nubians. Created by Nubian entrepreneur Mo’men Talosh, the Nubi app was released in February this year to immediate success, with nearly 3,000 downloads in the first 24 hours.

"The Nubian language is one of the oldest on the planet. Nubians are located in the southern parts of Egypt and norther parts of Sudan, and have created an incredible, great civilization on the banks of the Nile. It is our duty to preserve this civilization by promoting our language, as it is the most important aspect of this culture and fewer people are speaking it," Talosh told Startup Scene.

Talosh had been trying to teach the language to his cousin, when he realized that the youngster was more interested in browsing on his smartphone. "I was trying to teach him the language but he was too preoccupied with his phone to pay attention. That gave me the idea to try and create an application for phones and tablets that would teach people the Nubian language in a quick and accessible way," he explains.

The app offers lessons in both Nubian dialects spoken in Egypt - Kinzy and Visicci - teaching the dialects through specially created cartoon characters with Nubian names. In addition to the language lessons, the app also offers historical facts, as well as photos and stories from old Nubia.

Main image: Aisha Alshabrawy