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Project Profile

Mbeya NT Cluster | Ndali

This language group is participating in the Mbeya NT Cluster project.

At least 220,000 Ndali people live on a plateau in southwestern Tanzania and northern Malawi. Like many Africans, they grow corn, millet and cassava to feed their families. Several Ndali speakers are quite well-educated, including one woman who holds a doctorate and teaches foreign languages and linguistics at the University of Dar es Salaam. Ndali people are industrious and hard-working. They love their language and set up a language committee several years ago.

Eager to begin a Bible translation program, an Ndali translation and literacy team has been attending workshops offered by SIL in Mbeya, Tanzania. The team started work in 2003 and has laid a foundation for translation with careful linguistic work. They developed a new way of writing their language and have been compiling a dictionary and studying how their language functions. Some team members are teaching Ndali people to read so they will benefit from the new translation. The team began by drafting Jonah, Ruth and Mark, and their progress will continue from there. The professor who teaches in Dar es Salaam has indicated an interest in contributing to the Ndali translation program.

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