Author: Translators without Borders

Eric is an English and German to French translator. Based in Germany, he is currently Translators without Borders’ top contributor, with over 154,200 words donated.

Hi, Eric! Tell us a bit about yourself and your career.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Applied Foreign Languages in France, I moved to Germany in order to perfect my German; there I got an M.A. in Translation Sciences from the University of Heidelberg. Then I chose to stay here and to work as a freelance translator. My partner and I recently opened our own translation bureau; I specialize in the public health field. To my mind, one is never smart enough, especially in the translation business, so I devote a lot of time to ongoing professional training. My next challenge: to get a university degree in Public Health and Epidemiology.

What made you volunteer for Translators without Borders (TWB)?

Before volunteering for TWB, I already took on some volunteer projects for the VNU program, but TWB convinced me with its user-friendliness, particularly the ability to download and evaluate the text before applying for the translation.

Was there a TWB project you translated that particularly touched you in some way?

Some time ago, I took part in a translation project about diseases which are quite rare in Western Europe but still significant in some parts of the African continent, such as tuberculosis, leprosy and malaria. A family member of mine was a very active member of a French fundraising association against leprosy, so it was a really good opportunity to get first-hand information about it from him in order to do a good translation job.

Is there any particular memorable anecdote from your TWB experience that you could share with us?

Yes, after having completed a big TWB translation project for Kiva (about 25,000 words), I received really nice gifts from Jomay Liu who was in charge of this project for Kiva at that time. I still use one of them during my bike rides with my partner: It is a flask with the Kiva logo on it. Jomay, if you read this interview, thank you again!

What challenges, if any, are you facing or did you face as a Translator without Borders?

As many other translators, I generally have to deal with deadline issues while completing a project. Fortunately, the TWB deadlines are often quite generous and I have time to go further into some medical technical matters which I do not completely understand and this research helps me to have better expertise both as a volunteer as well as a paid translator.

What do you enjoy doing to take a break from translation?

I try to allow some time in the working week to spend time with my partner and our two dogs (one of them is in the picture). I also love cooking which is, for me, a very good way to take a break and to “find inspiration again”.

Thank you very much Eric!

It is with great pleasure that Translators without Borders announces its new Fund-a-Project crowd-funding initiative.

We often are contacted by supporters who express their interest in helping us spread knowledge through language but who have limited funds for sponsorship or membership. We also receive requests to fund specific projects rather than our general operating needs.

At the same time, there are also a large number of very important projects that require a relatively small amount of funding – but that we cannot do without that funding in place. These smaller projects make a real difference in creating access to knowledge but they still require funding to find, train and support translators in regional languages. The Fund-a-Project crowd-funding page will showcase these projects for donors to learn more about them, with donors able to choose which project they fund.

We are planning to showcase four projects at a time.  When a project is funded, a new project will be added. None of the projects will be started until funding is in place.

The first four projects focus on translation of health videos, manuals for well maintenance, and information on HIV-AIDs. They are based in India and Africa and range from $1,200 to $2,500 for full funding.

Supporters can help fund a project for as little as $5 up to the full amount. All supporters will be entitled to recognition on the TWB Special Projects webpage and a final report upon completion of the project.

Watch our social media channels to find out when the page is live – and join the cause: Fund-a-Project!

The Translators without Borders Workspace powered by ProZ.com had reached its record of words processed in June 2012, when 577,315 words were posted by humanitarian organizations and later translated by our volunteers. This record was broken in January 2013 and then shattered in February 2012, when 603,659 and 873,735 words were posted respectively.

From January 2011 To February 2013, our volunteer translators have delivered 8 million words to humanitarian organizations. During the last 12 months our workspace processed 4.70 million words and delivered 4.35 million words. This represents increments of 22.3% and 17.0% respectively over the 12-months period reported in our last newsletter.

  

Translators

The team of professionals approved by Translators without Borders reached 1659 by the end of February, with a growth of 59 translators during the last 3 months.

While we still have excess capacity in English to Spanish, our most populated pair, the continuous growth in demand for translations put pressure on the need for new volunteers, especially in African and Indian languages.

Our top-five volunteers are: Edwin Miner, who has donated an amazing 133,015 words, followed Edgar Marie-HélèneCadieux (119,447 words), eric ragu (98,802 words), gail desautels (79,082 words), and Ashutosh Mitra (who translated 75,691 words from English to Hindi).

Language pairs

During the last 12 months our translators accepted volunteer assignments in 92 language pairs. Top language pair was English to French, representing 19.9% of the operation. The next three pairs were French to English (18.1%), English to Spanish (9.4%) and Spanish to English (4.3).

 

 

Overall, the language pairs beyond the top-4 represented 48.4% of the total, up from the 48.1% reported in the last newsletter. This number is important because it shows the degree of ‘linguistic spread’ of the operation, as we strive to move beyond the main European languages to those used by most people in need of translation help.

 

Clients

A total of 89 humanitarian organizations requested our services during the last 12 months.

At the top of the list is the Wikipedia project, launched this year with the Wikimedia Foundation to translate 100 critical medical Wikipedia articles into as many languages as possible (with a starting goal of 100 languages). The project is currently active into 38 languages and more than 130 translated articles are already live in the local versions of Wikipedia, and several others are already translated and await integration in Wikipedia.

Next in line come Médicos sin Fronteras from Spain, and then Acción contra el Hambre (also from Spain) and Action contre la Faim, two branches of the same humanitarian organization. Then comes Médecins Sans Frontières from Switzerland.

 

In the previous issue we highlighted some creative fundraising ideas that some incredible and innovative individuals pursued in order to help TWB, in the hope of increasing their publicity and inspiring others to get involved. This issue calls to attention two important activities that have taken place since the last issue that have helped raise vital funds for our continued work: a grant awarded for our work in Kenya and a major fundraiser in Silicon Valley. We also list our new and renewing sponsors at the end – thanks for the support!

The Indigo Trust funding

At the end of 2012, TWB began efforts to extend its 100 x 100 Wikipedia project (100 Wikipedia medical articles into 100 languages) to African languages, specifically Swahili, to give people in East African access to important and relevant healthcare information.

In order to extend 100 x 100 to East Africa, funding was requested for the following:

• Project Management of English language Wikipedia articles into African languages
• Translation of medical articles into Swahili using Nairobi-based healthcare translators trained by TWB
• Work with WikiZero to ensure that translated content is on mobile phones through Orange and Telnor networks

The project is called 100 x 100 because the goal is to translate 100 medical articles into 100 languages. The total amount requested in order to get the articles into Swahili was $14,500.

A pivotal moment for TWB was the acceptance of this request in the form of a grant awarded by The Indigo Trust.

The Indigo Trust is a grant-making foundation funding projects that bring about social change, and their focus is mainly African countries and citizen empowerment, and projects in sectors such as health, education and human rights. According to The Indigo Trust, “If people have the ability to access, share and create information, then they are empowered to make positive changes in their own lives and communities.”

Thanks to this generous funding, the outcome of Wikipedia 100 x 100 should be a huge step towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals for 2015, and a healthier and better-informed population globally.

Silicon Valley Fundraiser

The other way in which TWB raised funds since the last newsletter was through An Evening with Translators without Borders, a fundraising event held on 5 February 2013 in Silicon Valley, at the PayPal Town Hall Building. Invited to attend were TWB board members, advisors, and local people interested in the work we are doing.

The event was envisioned by Donald Plumley, CEO of Elanex. Elanex is a translation services provider and was TWB’s first Platinum Sponsor. Program director Rebecca Petras and TWB Board Member Salvo Giammarresi worked with Don to create the first Bay Area event – which was a great success!

We also worked with IMUG, the International Multilingual User Group of Silicon Valley, which often hosts speakers and events for its members. IMUG was extremely helpful in promoting the event, collecting funds and organizing the event. And the group gave all admissions collected ($10 per person) directly to Translators without Borders!

Keeping everyone entertained was The Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Scott Abel, from the Content Wrangler (who announced that the Intelligent Content Conference would become a silver sponsor). The evening featured two main speakers, Lori Thicke, and a special guest speaker Naomi Baer, Senior Director of Partner Operations at Kiva, who talked about TWB’s work with Kiva.org.

As well as to raise funds, the event was an opportunity to hear ‘Stories from Afar: How Translation and Localization is Making a Difference in the Daily Lives of Those in Need’. This was a chance for people to learn more about how Translators without Borders is able to help more people in more countries access more knowledge.

As well as the entrance price, a silent auction was ongoing throughout the evening to support TWB projects. Donations for this ranged from sought-after gadgets, to advertising space in Multilingual Magazine and overnight stays away. The donations that were a real hit with the bidders were the iPad mini thanks to Common Sense Advisory, and the Nest thermostat thanks to Moravia.

Among the attendees were several students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies who were really excited to be doing some networking and meeting people in the localization industry. Ted Bouras, Career and Academic Advisor at the Institute, had this to say:

“One of our MBA students majoring in Localization Management is an intern for Translators without Borders so when she alerted the program of this event many of us cleared our calendars to attend — and I was glad I did! I found the interactive program and silent auction to be a great way to build a solid bond between TWB and the participants. We had at least 12 of our students attend and we came away from the event looking for ways to build a closer relationship with TWB.”

Another attendee, Janice, says ‘Thanks to Lori and Naomi for inspiring talks and giving us a window into the needs of people and how translation efforts can make a difference.’

Special Thanks go out to the following:

Elanex for the beer and wine donation

Lionbridge Technologies Inc. for donating all the hors d’oeuvres.

Paypal for hosting the event in the PayPal Town Hall

IMUG for organizing and marketing the event

Content Wrangler (Scott Abel) for Master of Ceremonies!

All donors and attendees.

Overall the evening was a resounding success, exceeding our expectations. More than $17,000 was raised. This is critical for our efforts. It is the fundraising and sponsorships we receive that allow us to do work around the world for more than 100 NGOs.

Almost all of the Board members were present, and we were right on target with a total of around 100 attendees. It was a relaxed and enjoyable event with a really upbeat vibe, which we hope can be repeated at similar events in the future.

Next up: London! We are creating a fun campaign leading up to an event in London during the welcome reception of Localization World, 12 June. Can we top the great fundraising that our team accomplished in Silicon Valley? The challenge is on…

For more information on our past and upcoming events, please email [email protected].

 

Thank you to our latest sponsors and sponsor renewals (since February 2013)! Thank you VERY MUCH for your support. We simply cannot translate for humanity without support from you.

Platinum:

LocalEyes

Gold:

Conversis

Silver:

CG Traduction & Interpretation

Globalization Partners International

Intelligent Content Conference

Bronze:

Alpha Translations Canada

AVB Translations

EQHO Communications Ltd

Eurocom

Transperfect

This is the story of a group of translators who one year ago were not professional translators. Last month they worked day and night translating and leading a critical project during a potentially volatile election in east Africa. Our thanks goes out to them – our team in Nairobi – and their enduring leader, Paul Warambo.

The call came in January.  “Can you help us translate thousands of messages during the Kenyan elections to make sure civilians across the country are heard?” asked Heather Leson of Ushahidi. “Sure!” was my immediate response.  I knew our translators were still learning, and I knew they had just been taught MemoQ by our dedicated volunteer, Marek Pawelec, but I also knew the importance of this project. And I knew we had a super leader in Nairobi who had been carefully trained and mentored by our board member in charge of Kenya, Simon Andriesen.

Our mission is to use language to transfer critical knowledge. We knew this was a very important humanitarian situation – we would figure out how to help.

The project to make sure voices were heard during the Kenyan elections was important because five years ago, in 2008, the aftermath of the election was devastating.  Mistrust in the system, coupled with hate message and insinuations throughout the country stirred tribal tensions and left a very volatile situation. More than 1,000 civilians were killed in the unrest.

Ushahidi, a crowdmapping tool used throughout the world during humanitarian situations, was actually created in Nairobi during the unrest in an attempt to map the violence and help people stay safe. Five years later – with a lot of experience gathered from crises in Haiti, Indonesia, eastern United States and around the world – Ushahidi was ready to map again in Kenya, this time with the goal to make sure voices were heard and violence avoided.  They partnered with a number of other organizations and created Uchaguzi – a project specifically for the Kenyan elections.

Over the month of February, Simon, Paul and the entire team met with the Uchaguzi lead, Daudi Were, and the rest of the Uchaguzi teams, for example, those doing crowdmapping.  They also learned the Ushahidi tools so they would be able to translate SMS text messages, tweets, emails and other messages in real-time.  Two days before the elections, they were ready – and work began.

Over the next eight days, our team worked day and  night to make sure messages from ten Kenyan languages were translated in real time and made available to crowdmappers as well as teams working around the country to minimize violence.  In addition to Paul, the team included:

Matthias Kathuke, Abraham Okumba, Emmanuel Kipkoech Mutai, Mary Amatu, Felix Kimani, Anne Mwangi, Rodha Moraa, Leonard Ngeno and Gilbert Karanja.

The results were staggering. Almost 39,000 messages translated from ten languages. Here are a few of the messages – a sample of the type of messages translated:

Niko katika kituo cha kuhesabia kura cha nyayo. Nimeshuhudia majaribio ya wizi wa kura za Kidero

TRANSLATION: Am in Nyayo tallying Center for Nairobi. Just saw an attempted rigging against Kidero.

Furugu town kitale, tafadhali jihadhari. Kitale si kuzuri

TRANSLATION: There is chaos in Kitale town. Please stay alert Kitale town is not safe

Kumepatikana visa vya wizi katika kituo cha kuhesabia kura Nyali constituency, Mombasa. Kwa hakika , Wakenya hatujapata mafunzo?

TRANSLATION: Cases of rigging found in Polling Station in Nyali Constituency, Mombasa. Surely Kenyans, haven’t we learnt from our past

Vijana Huruma na Mathare, Nairobi wanasema lazima watachoma maeneo hayo. Tafadhali saidia.

TRANSLATION: Youth at Huruma and Mathare, Nairobi are saying that they must burn the place. Please help

After eight days our team took a much deserved rest, comforted in the knowledge that they had made a difference. We know our team made a difference, but it was especially gratifying to hear about it from Ushahidi.  When the dust settled from the election, Heather took the time to write about our team and or leader, Paul Warambo:

Our special thanks goes to Paul Warambo from TWB, Paul you are an amazing person. Many times we called you in the night and you woke up to help us handle urgent translations. I really cannot thank you enough, you were very ready to help when help was needed. If I were your boss I would have given you a prize. Pass our gratitude to Simon (your boss Paul), he played a very major role to release the whole team of Kenyan translators to participate in the uchaguzi project. Without the role played by TWB we could not be celebrating this massive success. Pass our regards to your amazing team of translators.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors, especially our Fund-a-Translator donors.  We cannot do this critical and impactful work without your support!!

Our Fund-a-Translator Donors:

BeatBabel

GLOBO Language Communications

ProZ.com (sponsoring three translators!)

TechniWrite ApS

Venga

The great team of donors supporting TextPartners Bicycle Ride

 

Our interviewee for this issue is Sue Fortescue, Volunteer Manager at Translators without Borders (TWB), who has been actively recruiting ‘non-translator’ volunteers via different media. Sue told us how her professional and personal goals come together in her volunteer work.

“I came to translation quite late in life, after spending the first part of my career as an English Language teacher (in Italy, Nepal and the UK) and the second part as an IT Manager (in Belgium and the US).  My first degree was in Italian and French, and I also have an MA in Applied Linguistics and an MSc in Knowledge-Based Systems.

I retired to the UK in 2011 and spent some time re-familiarising myself with the land of my birth.  Then I began to miss the international atmosphere in which I had spent most of my life so, as a retirement project, I registered for the MA in AudioVisual Translation Studies at the University of Leeds. I followed the course part-time over two years, and thoroughly enjoyed learning new skills and meeting interesting people.  Now I am using those skills to translate a play, written by an Italian friend, – and we have high hopes that it might be produced in London one of these days. Watch this space!

We have ‘Professionalisation Talks’ once a week, when language industry professionals come and talk to us about their careers.  Towards the end of 2014, the talk was given by Andrew Bredenkamp, Chair of TWB – and I was hooked!  I emailed to ask if I could help, was interviewed early in 2015, and was invited to take up the position of Volunteer Manager.  I spend approximately two days a week replying to the volunteers who fill in the ‘Other Volunteer’ application form (i.e. not translators) and I LOVE it!

My job involves emailing and skyping people all over the world who want to help TWB.  They have a huge range of skills and very interesting backgrounds.  As well as translators, we need web engineers, fundraisers, graphic designers – a host of skills!” 

To volunteer, just fill in the application form on our website:

Translators:  http://translatorswithoutborders.org/volunteers/translator-app

Other volunteers: http://translatorswithoutborders.org/Volunteers/other-Volunteer-App

Target shooting

In paper: The Economist, every week!  I also belong to a book club and enjoy discussing books with my friends.  We recently read Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin, an inspiring story about the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda.

Open-air activity: Walking by the sea with friends

With friends: Concerts, operas, art galleries, museums

Philanthropy: is an important part of my life.  I volunteer with Samaritans, a charity that provides emotional support for people who are experiencing feelings of distress, despair or suicidal thoughts.  I am also a member of Soroptimist International (SI) (www.soroptimistinternational.org) and have belonged to SI clubs in the United States and Belgium as well as in the UK.

Fairstep is a European Union initiative officially founded in October, 2012. The project aims to collect humanitarian, and environmental projects from all EU countries, and introduce them online.

The vision for Fairstep originally came to its founder, Antonios, in 2005. As he described for us: “In more than 25 years traveling around the world, especially in Europe, I had the great luck to meet and talk with many people(s). It was and is still a magnificent experience to learn from others, to see the world with their eyes. But there was one point I faced everywhere: people do not really know each other, neither in their small neighborhood, nor in the wider world. This is not only a pity, but it makes life more difficult. The interesting thing is, if you give people information, explain circumstances and transfer emotions from others, they are mostly pleased to get them and are keenly interested. And that is why we say today: Closeness creates understanding, distance causes misunderstanding!”

Antonios’ next challenge was to develop an organizational approach that could expand his realization and bring it to a wider audience. “How could we share differing information about all the other peoples, with all the peoples? If many people act a bit, all together we can move mountains, and if we combine information with charity, we become a team and help others.”

Fairstep’s process collects projects from around the European Union, and gives all donors the possibility to vote on which projects should be sponsored. Donors are not allowed to vote for their own country’s projects, or projects in neighboring countries. As such, they must learn about projects from more distant, probably lesser-known countries, thus gaining information and reality-based experiences from them. Antonios explains: “As a result, we hope to create rapprochement, and in the future, live together in respect and dignity, as well as with tolerance and understanding.”

Fairstep’s partnership with Translators without Borders began in December 2012, when its website, first in German and English, needed translation into all official EU languages. The Danish translation is already available, and several other languages are in progress. As Antonios remarks: “This basic translation work is absolutely necessary, because everyone in the EU should have the possibility to understand the aim and message of Fairstep, and as such, have the chance to be an active part of its development.”

The Translators without Borders Workspace powered by ProZ.com had reached its record of words processed in June 2012, when 577,315 words were posted by humanitarian organizations and later translated by our volunteers. This record was broken in January 2013 and then shattered in February 2012, when 603,659 and 873,735 words were posted respectively.

From January 2011 To February 2013, our volunteer translators have delivered 8 million words to humanitarian organizations. During the last 12 months our workspace processed 4.70 million words and delivered 4.35 million words. This represents increments of 22.3% and 17.0% respectively over the 12-months period reported in our last newsletter.

  

Translators

The team of professionals approved by Translators without Borders reached 1659 by the end of February, with a growth of 59 translators during the last 3 months.

While we still have excess capacity in English to Spanish, our most populated pair, the continuous growth in demand for translations put pressure on the need for new volunteers, especially in African and Indian languages.

Our top-five volunteers are: Edwin Miner, who has donated an amazing 133,015 words, followed Edgar Marie-HélèneCadieux (119,447 words), eric ragu (98,802 words), gail desautels (79,082 words), and Ashutosh Mitra (who translated 75,691 words from English to Hindi).

Language pairs

During the last 12 months our translators accepted volunteer assignments in 92 language pairs. Top language pair was English to French, representing 19.9% of the operation. The next three pairs were French to English (18.1%), English to Spanish (9.4%) and Spanish to English (4.3).

 

 

Overall, the language pairs beyond the top-4 represented 48.4% of the total, up from the 48.1% reported in the last newsletter. This number is important because it shows the degree of ‘linguistic spread’ of the operation, as we strive to move beyond the main European languages to those used by most people in need of translation help.

 

Clients

A total of 89 humanitarian organizations requested our services during the last 12 months.

At the top of the list is the Wikipedia project, launched this year with the Wikimedia Foundation to translate 100 critical medical Wikipedia articles into as many languages as possible (with a starting goal of 100 languages). The project is currently active into 38 languages and more than 130 translated articles are already live in the local versions of Wikipedia, and several others are already translated and await integration in Wikipedia.

Next in line come Médicos sin Fronteras from Spain, and then Acción contra el Hambre (also from Spain) and Action contre la Faim, two branches of the same humanitarian organization. Then comes Médecins Sans Frontières from Switzerland.