Language is a tool a group of people use in communicating with themselves. It is therefore a necessary part of culture which enables peaceful coexistence and free expression. Cross-border languages are languages spoken by a group of people that lives in a geographical area in two or more countries sharing boundaries.

Having said that, cross-border languages are so vital because of the prominent role it plays in uniting people from countries that share borders. It allows for daily interaction and trade amongst the inhabitants of the area. Trade among these set of people make up an integral part of their livelihood, it is also forms a significant part of the countries’ economy and by extension the aggregation of cross-border trade which is aided by cross-border languages has been a significant player in the development of the African economy.

It is with this understanding that the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) is embarking on the harmonization of writing system of vehicular cross-border languages. Recently, ACALAN held a workshop in Brazzaville on the harmonization of the writing system of Betifang, Lingala and Kingongo cross-border languages.

As a follow up to the success recorded on the workshop held in Congo, ACALAN is set to hold another workshop to harmonize the Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kiswahili, Luganda, Malagasy and Somali Vehicular Cross-border Languages, from 13 to 15 November 2018 in Kampala, Uganda.

The workshop is aimed at harmonizing differences in orthographic practice; create a writing system for the languages, develop a standardized form of writing for each of the languages, develop a minimum lexicon for each language and develop harmonized rules of grammar.