achida | english

Nias Language Pack on Google Play Store I never thought that my first app on Google Play Store would be a language pack of a keyboard app. But that's what has happened. Instead of creating my own keyboard app, which would need extra promotion in order to reach wider audience, as a beginner in Android programming I think I better create Nias language support in an existing keyboard app AnySoftKeyboard. On the latter stage I can write my own keyboard app and may be contribute to SwiftKey or Gboard. As I get more programming skills, I could add more independent apps to the project. Since it's conception the Nias Keyboard Project was always meant more than only a keyboard app. It has other related projects like Nias dictionary (spelling and grammar), Nias use in social media and Nias story telling app etc. that would encourage Nias speaking people to write stories in Nias. But I need to start somewhere, at this is it. It's live and searchable. Nias language p

Nias traditional wear (Photo: Private archive) The pain and beyond If you have ever typed a lot in Nias language, you must have felt the pain I had had with it. Whether you type on a smartphone screen or on a PC keyboard, the keyboard does not feature the characters ö and ŵ which are frequently found in Nias vocabulary. The existing solution is cumbersome to carry out. On a smartphone keyboard you would get those characters by long-pressing the letter o and w to get letter ö and ŵ respectively. On a PC people usually use the combination shortcuts (like Alt+1945 or whatever). And if you have ever typed long texts in Nias language, you must have known that both solutions are not convenient at all and they basically slow down the typing flow. But that's only one side of the story. Looking further it seems that Nias language is virtually absent from the Internet and social media. People with Nias mother tongue and others with Nias language skills don't communic