My mobile phone writes Yoruba

I've recently bought a new mobile phone and I've seen something interesting about languages.

This phone has been designed for Nigeria and this explains why the menus are available in English (Nigeria is an English-speaking West African country), French (useful if you want to sell phones in French-speaking countries). But the menus are also available in Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo, three important languages in Nigeria. And it's possible to send text message using these languages (some having different characters).

Two not-so-good pictures to show the menus in French and in Yoruba:



I think it's a good example of glocalization: adapting to local markets goods that you want to sell worldwide. Although, as Hilary pointed out, to use your phone in Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo, you must be literate in these languages.

PS 1: Interestingly, the booklet that came with the phone explains how to write text messages in Arahmaic (language spoken in Ethiopia and which uses a different set of characters).

PS 2: to be honest, when I changed the settings from French to Yoruba, I found a bit hard to go back to French because although Yoruba and Monkolé are related, they are written differently and I'm not fluent in Yoruba.