![Nuer numerals. [Photo by Nuer Group 5 Intellectuals]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Gathoth-and-Changson-1.png?resize=2835%2C1594&quality=80&ssl=1)
In a statement released to Sudans Post yesterday, Goanar Gordon Yien, leader of the ‘Nuer Group 5 Intellectuals (NG5)’, the team that developed the numeral system, expressed a sense of relief and accomplishment following the successful completion of the project.
Yien, who is also the deputy press secretary in the office of the first vice president highlighted the significance of this achievement for the Nuer community and the potential it holds for promoting mathematical literacy and cultural preservation.
“We, the team known as Nuer Group 5 Intellectuals (NG5 intellectuals) comprising 5 members including experts across the Nuerland have conducted research which started in 2022 and eventually introduced ‘Thok Naath Numerals’ on base ten digits for everyone and specifically Nuer-Speaking people,” Yien said.
“We are therefore grateful and honored to the Almighty God who has granted us the wisdom and opportunity to make this significant contribution to the development of Thok Naath Numerals,” the statement added.
The team, comprised of experts from various fields within Nuer community, embarked on the research project in 2022 and has now brought it to fruition.
“We hope that the introduction of Thok Naath Numerals will help all Nuer readers and speakers to make proper mathematical calculations in their own language,” he added.
According to the statement, the newly developed numerals have been integrated into a series of Thok Naath mathematical textbooks, covering primary, intermediate, and advanced levels. These textbooks will soon be made available to the public.
The NG5 Intellectuals’ initiative was driven by the belief that Thok Naath, a rich and standardized language, deserves its own numerical system for mathematical operations and acknowledged the moral, financial, and technical support they received from various individuals and organizations in making this project a reality.
“Moreover, the NG5 Intellectuals will use this as a sample to introduce Numerals for other National languages in South Sudan. We thank all those who contributed morally, financially and technically to ensure that this project becomes a reality,” they said.
This introduction of the Nuer numeral system comes on the heels of another major milestone for South Sudanese languages, as Nuer, Dinka, and Acholi were recently added to Google Translate by a team of South Sudanese experts.
Thank to the 5 experts who took much of their time to developed our local languange call thok naath for it has to be known on the social media by the non nuer community for them if they can able to read and study it as the professional languange being recognized by the country both higher education and general education and instruction.