Sudan - Soudan - السودان (SD)

1. Language information / Données sur les langues

1.1 Languages spoken / Langues parlées

a) Official / Officielle(s) :

Standard Arabic and English are indicated in the 2005 constitution as "the official working languages of the national government." (Wikipedia)

b) National, indigenous / Nationale(s), indigène(s) :

Arabic is indicated in the 2005 constitution as "a widely-spoken national language in the Sudan." The constitution also states that "All indigenous languages of the Sudan are national languages and shall be respected, developed and promoted." (Wikipedia)

Native speakers of Sudanese Arabic, dominant in the north, are the largest group.

Ethnologue lists 134 living languages at http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=SD

c) Relevant pages in the Major Languages section of this report / Pages appropriées dans la section de ce rapport sur les Langues principales :

Arabic, Dinka, Nubian, Nuer, Zande. There are also some Fula and Hausa speakers in Sudan.

1.2 Policy / Politique

a) Laws/legislation / Lois/législation :

The site L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde has a page on the Sudan at http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/soudan.htm

b) Agencies / Agences :

Department of Sudanese & African Languages
Institute of African & Asian Studies
University of Khartoum
P.O. Box 32 - KHARTOUM
(Source: UNESCO, 1985)

c) Languages in education/literacy / Langues dans l'éducation/l'alphabétisation :

Literacy rate (figures are given without reference to which language[s]):

• UNDP (2006) gives a literacy figure of: 60.9%
• Ethnologue gives a literacy figure of: 20% to 27%

1.3 Writing in national/indigenous languages / Ecriture en langues nationales/indigènes

a) Orthographies / Orthographes :

The Arabic script is of course used for Arabic. Latin-based scripts (with extended characters) are used for the languages of the South. [Defined where? name of conference in 1920s? subsequent standardizations? current status still in flux?]

A chart showing the Latin extended characters and diacritics used in some Sudanese languages is available at http://www.bisharat.net/A12N/SUDAN-table.htm

b) Print publications / Editions imprimées :

1.4 Other comments / Autre commentaire

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2. ICT situation / Situation des TIC

2.1 Infrastructure / Infrastructure

a) Telephones / Téléphones :

• Fixed lines: Telephone mainlines: 14 per 1000 people (APC)
• Mobile subscriptions: 650,000 (2.0 per 100 people) (ITU 2004 cited in Vodafone 2005)

b) Radio stations / Stations de radio :

c) Connectivity / Connectivité :

• International internet bandwidth / Bande passante internationale d'internet :
• ISPs / FSI :
• Geographic coverage / Couverture géographique :

2.2 Computer & internet access / Accès aux ordinateurs et à l'internet

a) Computers & points of access / Ordinateurs et lieux d'accès :

• Number of computers / Nombre d'ordinateurs: 3.6 per 1000 people (APC)
• Cybercafés / Cybercafés:
• Project telecentres / Télécentres de projets:

b) Internet / Internet :

• Dial-up subscribers / Abonnés par ligne téléphonique :
• Internet users / Utilisateurs de l'internet : 1,140,000 Internet users as of Sept/05, 3.2% of the population, per ITU (Internet World Stats)

c) Other / Autre :

• Digital Opportunity Index (DOI): 0.19 (ITU 2006)

2.3 Policy / Politique

The APC page, "ICT Policy in Sudan" has some information and links: http://rights.apc.org/africa/test.shtml?apc=s21808e_1

2.4 ICT4D/E & ICT training / TIC pour le développement/éducation, et formation en TIC

2.5 Resources / Ressources

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3. Localisation situation / Situation de localisation

3.1 Country web content / Contenu web du pays

3.2 Web content in indigenous languages / Contenu web en langues indigènes

(See also specific language pages.)

3.3 Software localisation / Localisation de logiciel

(See also specific language pages.)

3.4 Projects & organisations / Projets et organisations

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4. References / Références

APC, "ICT Policy in Sudan," Africa ICT Policy Monitor, http://rights.apc.org/africa/test.shtml?apc=s21808e_1

International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 2006. World Information Society Report 2006. Geneva: ITU. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/worldinformationsociety/2006/wisr-web.pdf

______. 2004. African Telecommunication Indicators 2004. Geneva: ITU.

Internet World Stats: Africa. 2006. http://internetworldstats.com/africa.htm

Leclerc, Jacques. L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde, "Soudan," http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/soudan.htm

SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Languages of Sudan," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=SD

Sudan, "The Interim National Constitution of the Republic of the Sudan," http://www.mpil.de/shared/data/pdf/inc_official_electronic_version.pdf

UNDP. 2006. ''Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. Human Development Report 2006.'' New York: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). [Human development index Adult literacy rate (% ages 15 and older) (HDI) http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/3.html ]

UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa. 1985. African Community Languages and Their Use in Literacy and Education: A Regional Survey. Dakar: UNESCO.

Vodafone. 2005. "Africa: The Impact of Mobile Phones." The Vodafone Policy Paper Series, Number 3, March 2005. http://www.vodafone.com/assets/files/en/GPP%20SIM%20paper.pdf

Wikipedia, "Languages of Sudan," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Sudan

______, "Sudan," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan

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