Abstract:
The main objective of the study is to analyze the errors in billboard advertisements written in Afan
Oromo in Jimma town. There are many writing problems on most of the billboards in the town.
However, the data collection for this study focused only on the errors that totally changed the meaning
of the words and phrases and affected communication. In order to achieve the main objective, three
specific objectives related to the types of errors in the writings of the billboards, the extent to which the
errors affect communication, and the negative impacts of the errors on the development of the
language were formulated. The data for the study were collected through observation. The collected
data were analyzed qualitatively. The result of the study shows that letters are misspelled in most
words of the advertisements as a result of which the word meaning is changed to an unintended one, in
most phrases or sentences in which double adjectives were used, the adjectives were disordered and
the sentences or phrases became meaningless, and some phrases or sentences are directly translated
from Amahric to Afan Oromo which is not correct because Afan Oromo has its own rule. The errors
have no specific purpose or they were not to attract attention of the consumers to the product.
Generally, it is possible to say that the errors are high in magnitude because they not only affect
communication but also they have negative impact on development of the language (Afan Oromo).
Hence, Jimma University, specifically, Afan Oromo Department, should work cooperatively with the
culture and tourism office of the town and other concerned bodies to mitigate the writing problems
observed in the town because teaching the language (Afan Oromo) alone cannot develop the language,
but it requires a perpetual follow up of how people are using the language.
