I am writing to express my delight at last week’s meeting in Nairobi during the cocktail for Nairobi based translators. It was an eye opener in as far as we were reminded that translation isn’t only about translating the foremost world languages as we have all tended to believe. Early last year, I accompanied a [...]
We’ve been invited to Kibera, Kenya’s largest slum, to talk about – of all things – translation. “We” refers to a delegation from Translators without Borders consisting of Paula Shannon, Simon and Harriet Andriesen, and myself. Kibera is a place we never expected to find ourselves in. The second largest slum in Africa after Soweto, [...]
I believe that for the first time in human history we are capable of sharing knowledge with everyone on this planet, regardless of where they live and what language they speak. I believe that everything we need to bridge the knowledge divide that separates rich and poor exists today. I believe that now is the [...]
Yahoo! Inc., founded in 1994, is currently the third most visited website on the planet with over half a billion unique visitors every month. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, has more than 13,000 employees in 25 countries, provinces and territories, and localizes content into over 30 languages. Salvatore Giammarresi is Yahoo!’s localization director, hired to [...]
I’m so excited about the strides Translators without Borders has made in the last few months. – Thanks to an online translation platform programmed for us by ProZ.com, we’ve already increased our capacity to help aid organizations two-fold, and expect to quadruple our contribution by the end of the year. To give you an example [...]
Translators without Borders is matching European and African translators to help bring the first health knowledge platform to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Tufts University, based in Boston, has created a dynamic multimedia health knowledge management system known as TUSK. In a project funded by USAID to train university and governmental bodies on pandemic threat response, [...]
Autodesk, based in San Rafael, California, publishes 3D software for design, engineering and entertainment. Autodesk products are localized from English into as many as 20 languages. Mirko Plitt is senior manager of language technologies at Autodesk as part of the localization services team in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Thicke Autodesk was one of the first enterprises to deploy [...]
Language is crucial to solving many of the problems faced by the world’s poorest peoples. That’s because language is necessary for people to access knowledge, and knowledge is necessary for all the advances of civilization, from improving health and increasing longevity to fostering technical advances and scientific discovery, promoting democracy, improving agricultural yields, conserving water, [...]
As East Africa faces its worst famine in 60 years, called the children’s famine because they are least likely to survive, those of us who work with languages might wonder how we could possibly be of assistance. How much can translation help to lessen the burden of hunger and insecurity? Translation can help a great [...]
“Bring it on,” says Jon Peck, Senior Developer at ProZ.com. He’s referring to Translators without Borders’ expanded capacity to help non-profits thanks to our new fully-automated Translation Center. As of today, we are ready, willing and able to provide free translations to five times as many non-profit organizations. Our capacity to help non-profits had already [...]