---
language:
  - luo
  - bxk
  - lri
  - rag
  - swa
license: cc-by-4.0
task_categories:
  - translation
tags:
  - kenyan-languages
  - dholuo
  - lubukusu
  - lumarachi
  - lulogooli
  - swahili
  - low-resource-languages
  - african-languages
pretty_name: KenTrans
size_categories:
  - 10K<n<100K
configs:
- config_name: dho
  data_files: "dho/*.parquet"
- config_name: lbk
  data_files: "lbk/*.parquet"
- config_name: lch
  data_files: "lch/*.parquet"
- config_name: llg
  data_files: "llg/*.parquet"
---

# KenTrans: Kenyan Languages to Swahili Translation Dataset

## Dataset Structure
**KenTrans** is a parallel corpus between **Swahili** and three Kenyan languages (with multiple Luhya dialects). The dataset contains **11,795** sentence pairs translated **into Swahili**:

- **Dholuo → Swahili:** 4,222 pairs
- **Luhya → Swahili (total):** 7,573 pairs across three dialects
  - **Lumarachi (lch):** 2,475 pairs
  - **Lulogooli (llg):** 3,692 pairs
  - **Lubukusu (lbk):** 1,406 pairs

The dataset is provided in **Parquet format**, which is compatible with Hugging Face `datasets` library version 4.0.0 and above.

Each example contains parallel text with the following fields:
- **source**: Original sentence in the source language
- **target**: Translation in Swahili

> Example
> ```python
> {
>   'source': 'OSIEPE MA KENDE',
>   'target': 'MARAFIKI WA DHATI'
> }
> ```

### Languages & Codes

| Language / Dialect | Code | Family / Notes                |
|--------------------|------|-------------------------------|
| Dholuo (Luo)       | dho  | Nilotic (western Kenya)       |
| Lubukusu (Bukusu)  | lbk  | Bantu, Luhya dialect          |
| Lumarachi (Marachi)| lch  | Bantu, Luhya dialect          |
| Lulogooli (Logooli)| llg  | Bantu, Luhya dialect          |
| Swahili            | swa  | Target language for all pairs |

---

## Usage

### Loading with 🤗 Datasets

**Compatible with datasets 4.0.0+** (No `trust_remote_code` needed!)

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

# Load Dholuo → Swahili
dho = load_dataset("Kencorpus/KenTrans", "dho")

# Load Lubukusu → Swahili
lbk = load_dataset("Kencorpus/KenTrans", "lbk")

# Load Lumarachi → Swahili
lch = load_dataset("Kencorpus/KenTrans", "lch")

# Load Lulogooli → Swahili
llg = load_dataset("Kencorpus/KenTrans", "llg")

# Access the data
print(dho['train'][0])
# Output: {'id': 'dho_dho_combined.txt_0', 'source': '6AM DALA FM NEWS...', 'target': 'VIDOKEZI VYA HABARI...', ...}
```

---

### Dataset Format

The dataset is stored in **Parquet format** with the following structure:
- Each language pair has its own Parquet file (e.g., `dho-train.parquet`)
- Each row represents a parallel sentence pair
- All metadata is included in the Parquet schema

## Dataset Format

The dataset is distributed as **Parquet files** for optimal performance and compatibility:

- **Format**: Apache Parquet (columnar storage)
- **Encoding**: UTF-8
- **File naming**: `{language}-train.parquet` (e.g., `dho-train.parquet`)
- **Compatibility**: Works with `datasets` 4.0.0+ without custom loading scripts

---

## Data Fields (Programmatic View)

When parsed into records, each example can be represented with:

- `id`: Unique identifier (e.g., `dho_0773_dho_tr.txt_0`)
- `source`: Source language sentence
- `target`: Target Swahili sentence
- `src_lang`: One of `dho`, `lbk`, `lch`, `llg`
- `tgt_lang`: Always `swa`
- `pair`: Language pair as `"{src}-{tgt}"` (e.g., `dho-swa`)
- `filename`: Source filename (e.g., `0773_dho_tr.txt`)

---


## Sources

## Translators (Acknowledgements)
**Dholuo → Swahili**
- Mercy Lavinca Oduoll (Coordinator)
- Bildad Okebe
- Immaculate Ochieng
- Mary Muma. 

**Luhya (Logooli) → Swahili**
- Phillip Lumwamu (Coordinator)
- Kints Mugoha Musungu
- Vivian Alivitsa
- Joseph Ambwere
- Joyline Ingasiani. 

**Luhya (Bukusu) → Swahili**
- Martin Barasa Mulwale (Coordinator)
- Samwel Ralph Nyongesa
- Tobias Shikuku
- Phelisters N Simiyu

**Luhya (Marachi) → Swahili**
- Judith Awinja (Coordinator)
- Evans Owino
- Belinda Oduor
- Frankline Mwaro




## Dataset Curator
- Indede, Florence (Maseno University)
- McOnyango, Owen (Maseno University)
- Wanzare, Lilian D.A. (Maseno University)
- Wanjawa, Barack (University of Nairobi)
- Ombui, Edward (Africa Nazarene University)
- Muchemi, Lawrence (University of Nairobi)

## Research Paper

- Wanjawa, B.W., Wanzare, L.D., Indede, F., McOnyango, O., Ombui, E., & Muchemi, L. (2022). Kencorpus: A Kenyan Language Corpus of Swahili, Dholuo and Luhya for Natural Language Processing Tasks. ArXiv, abs/2208.12081. https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.12081

## Links
Dataverse: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/KLCKL5