Microsoft has a go at speaking Inca

SOFTWARE CONQUISTADOR Microsoft has decided to release a version of its Windows operating system which talks Incan.

The move is to help speakers of the Quechua, or Incan, language to use Microsoft's software. In the Middle Ages, the Quechua had one of the largest empires in the world, but Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said centuries of prejudice meant that speakers of indigenous languages were often seen as a little backward.

He said the move from Microsoft was a step towards inclusion. Vole's chief of Bolivian operations, Nelson Cuentas said that Microsoft wanted the indigenous culture to form a part of the information age.

There were a few problems with the translation. Inca didn't have many words for things that are common place on the PC. According to Associated Press a word Qallariy pronounced "KAH-lyah-ree" replaces "Start". For "file," they chose kipu (KEE-poo), which is an ancient Inca practice of recording information using knotted strings. "Internet" became Llika (LEE-ka), the word for spider web.

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