In order to expand the “Je parle le Bassa 2” project started in the form of a Facebook page created in December 2013 by young French of Cameroonian origin Stéphie-Rose Nyot Nyot to help people learn the Bassa dialect spoken in Cameroon, a crowdfunding was launched last month. The page gathered some 6,000 Bassa learners two years only after its creation.

The crowd-funding extends to May 18, 2016 and is carried out on the French crowdfunding platform KissKissBankBank. The initiator of the “Je parle le Bassa 2” (I speak Bassa 2) project aims to raise €7,000 to expand it, boost its visibility and go global through the creation of a website in English-French.

A mobile app is also planned to help users learn Bassa anytime, anywhere. The developer also plans to establish a network to which other Cameroonian and African dialects will be added. Meetings around languages will be organized.

Since it was started, the developer of the project has been collaborating with her parents who have a certain mastery of the Bassa dialect. Based on the discussions on the Facebook page, they suggest corrections both in verbal and written form to members. In the framework of expansion, more expertise will be sought and new learning tools will be incorporated.

Stéphie-Rose Nyot Nyot started the project while studying global communication. She decided to fully commit to the preservation of African languages after taking part in UNESCO’s World Heritage Education programme.

Assongmo Necdem