Kolokwa
Offline English to Kolokwa
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Type English, read Kolokwa. With no connection, no account, and the numbered orthography rule behind every single word.
Kolokwa turns English into Liberian Kolokwa on your phone, for free.
Liberian Kolokwa is the language most of Liberia actually speaks — around five million people — and until recently it had no agreed way of being written down. This app writes it using Kolokwa Orthography v1.0, developed by Philip Kaleewoun and Dr. John Victor Singler.
COMPLETELY OFFLINE
The whole orthography is built into the app. Translation is computed on your device, so it works offline on a plane, in a village with no signal, and on a phone with no data plan. Nothing you type is sent anywhere just because you typed it.
SEE WHY, NOT JUST WHAT
Tap any word in a translation and the app shows you how that spelling was reached, citing the numbered section of the orthography that decided it — the vowel chart, the consonant rules, the rules that end a syllable in a vowel, the fact that Kolokwa does not write the present tense of "to be" at all. It is a translator that shows its work, which makes it a way to learn the writing system rather than only to use it.
HONEST ABOUT WHAT IT DOES NOT KNOW
The orthography settles a fixed list of words. For anything outside that list the app derives a spelling from the same published rules and marks it clearly as a best guess, with a dotted underline and a plain-language note. An approximation is never presented as a settled spelling, and you can flag any word that reads wrong so a Kolokwa speaker can correct it.
ALSO IN THE APP
- Your recent translations, kept on the device and never sent anywhere
- Copy to the clipboard, or share a translation as an image card
- Dark mode, larger text sizes, and full screen-reader support
- No account, no sign-up, no advertising, no analytics
A PROJECT OF THE PALAVA HUT FOUNDATION
The Palava Hut Foundation is a nonprofit building the first comprehensive digital archive of Liberia's languages. Kolokwa is phase one; the work ahead covers all sixteen of Liberia's indigenous languages through paid community participation. Corrections raised in this app feed back into the orthography itself. Go to
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
The orthography has been updated to v1.3.6.
The developer, Agile Solutions Limited Liability Company, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- User Content
- Identifiers
- Usage Data
- Other Data
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Agile Solutions Limited Liability Company
- Size
- 41.6 MB
- Category
- Reference
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.1 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 15.1 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.1 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.1 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © Agile Solutions Limited Liability Company
