We’ve launched an important new feature in our N’ko calculator app: the ability to toggle the entire app display between N’ko numerals and the Indo-Arabic numerals used with the Latin script. This new feature is intended to facilitate communication and business transactions between local business people and customers who may be unfamiliar with the N’ko script. The feature is activated with the touch of a button.
The idea for this feature came from a tour of China I made in 2004, where the only channel of communication I had with shopkeepers and sales personnel was a calculator — and there was always a calculator at hand wherever things were sold. It became quickly apparent that this was the most common tool of communication between Chinese shopkeepers and customers (like me) who didn’t speak their language. It actually worked very well.
So we asked ourselves: if the users of the N’ko Calculatrice wanted to quickly communicate prices to foreign customers and tourists without leaving the app, what would that look like? The answer became our latest update.