Autocorrect gets a multicultural makeover because English isn't the only language we text in

What the duck is happening? I hate this piece of shirt!

Even native English speakers have a tough time with autocorrect, that often-misguided spell-checker that turns cathartic swearing into a movie script edited for TBS. But try using any other language on a phone that isn’t specifically set up for it. Every other word gets a comical or nonsensical approximation that makes predictive text all but useless.

Now South African alcohol brand Savanna Cider is broadening autocorrect’s horizons. “Decolonise Autocorrect,” a campaign from Grey South Africa, packages up hundreds of common words in languages like Sotho and Xhosa commonly spoken in South Africa, a nation with 11 official languages.

Each language pack is saved as a contact file, which many phones automatically add to their dictionaries. So party information like “Ba bang batla” (Others are attending) doesn’t get turned into “Gang-bang the baklava.” It’s not that kind of party.

Do not let your festive party planning be ruined by autocorrect. #KeDezemba re ka hare, It’s time to #DecoloniseAutocorrect. Go to https://t.co/UxpMOXZhMR, save 500 of the most used Sotho words to your phone and send messages ka’SeSotho. #DecoloniseAutocorrect pic.twitter.com/mQQROFRcQu

— Savanna Cider (@SavannaCider) December 8, 2019

To illustrate the ridiculousness of some results, Savanna commissioned an auto-corrected version of the popular protest song “Shosholoza,” rendered here as “Shoulder odour.”