David Ker
Bio
Titambire, Alendo! Welcome, traveler!
Hello everybody. I'm looking forward to seeing you all next week.
I'm proud to represent Mozambique and SIL International.
Here's just a little bit about me:
- I've been married to Hilary since 1992. We have four children: Eleanor, Henry, Andrew and Benjamin.
- I have a B.A. in English with a minor in Spanish from the University of Oregon. I have taken countless post-grad courses in linguistics but have never managed to put it all together and get a higher degree.
- I've worked in Mozambique since 1999 as a linguist and Bible translation consultant.
- Currently I am a part-time guest lecturer in New Testament at Hefsiba Bible Institute in Tete, Mozambique.
- I'm a speaker of English, Portuguese and ciNyungwe, a language of Tete province.
- I am "general editor" of a series of word lists being developed for all the major languages of Mozambique. We currently have about ten in draft with approximately 1,700 words each and we are projecting to do another ten or so in the next two years. Eventually they will be basic mini-dictionaries containing 3,000 to 5,000 words. We are using LexiquePro to display and distribute data.
- I am helping our organization develop an open web site for sharing linguistic data and language publications about Mozambique. I currently favor a system like Informe which has Wiki, phpbb, etc.
- I have an obsession with mobile phones as appropriate portals to the Internet for Africa. I've experimented with moblogging, SMS to Web, and other geeky things.
- I am a fanatical blogger, known as Lingamish.
- You can see cute kid photos of my family at Afri-Kers Family Photo Journal or at Lingamini Moblog
- My unofficial job title at SIL Mozambique is "Head of the Department of Wild Ideas."
Some of my writing that might be of interest: