Author: Translators Without Borders

Translators without Borders (TWB) frequently announces donations received from various companies, but what about the huge amount of help that we get from dedicated individuals who do incredible things to raise money through their creativity and hard work? What can you do as an individual to raise money and support us, and what could that amount achieve? This part of the newsletter provides a space for our innovative fundraisers to showcase their fundraising projects, and highlights the ways in which other people can get involved in creative and fun ways to raise money to really make a difference.

One of the main ways that individuals can support us is by raising money for the Fund-a-Translator program, whereby $1,000 will provide a translator’s training, equipment and Internet connection for a period of one year. This single translator’s work may then help save hundreds of lives.

Supporters from Text Partner in Poland did just that. Marek Gawrysiak and Lucjan Szreter cycled 440 kilometers in four days, from their branch office in Katowice, Poland, to the ELIA conference in Budapest to raise money to fund the training of two Kenyan translators. The ways in which the public could help support the bike ride were either through sponsoring as many kilometers as possible, or by spreading the word about the charity.

The company created a dedicated webpage through which donations could be made directly, and also encouraged people to raise awareness of the ride and the charity through social media, providing links to the TWB Twitter page. There was also the functionality to share the bike ride story directly on Facebook and Twitter. The page was complete with a sponsorship progress bar where the amount raised could be tracked, and companies and individuals were able to leave comments of encouragement.

What worked so well about this idea was that a goal was set of raising enough to sponsor two Kenyan trainee translators for a year, and it seemed to help people understand the importance of donating to this cause. The donation process was made incredibly straight forward, and the company linked the donations to a set amount of kilometers. Obviously, this also encouraged the riders to keep on going.

Gawrysiak and his team did indeed reach their goal of raising the $2,000 target, which demonstrates how every penny really does add up. Gawrysiak would like to underline that they owe special thanks to Raymund Prins from Global Textware, the Netherlands, who was one of the “masterminds” of the ride but, unfortunately, could not take part in it himself. His company was also one of the sponsors. Owing to the success of the first bike ride and the public’s growing interest in their initiative, Gawrysiak and his team are embarking on another fundraising ride across five countries, starting May 30 2013, and finishing on June 2, covering a total of 600 kilometers. Throughout the journey they will be talking to local media about the Fund-a-Translator program, and they are encouraging others to join in the ride or to provide support vehicles.

Gawrysiak commented that “I am more than happy to see that so many people are willing to engage in our initiative. It is great fun after all! And I really hope our next ride is going to be even more successful than the first, turning the ‘biking idea’ into a regular, fund-raising event.”

For more information on the bike ride, to sign up to their newsletter, or to bite the bullet and join in part of the next bike ride, go to www.onourbikes.info. For more information on the Fund-a-Translator program go to http://translatorswithoutborders.org/Fund-a-Translator.

The Text Partner bike ride is just one of the creative ways people in our industry are helping us reach our goal of more humanitarian content available in more languages.  Several individuals have run matching campaigns on Twitter, supporters in Argentina collected funds at an event, GeoGlobal in North America donates every time a customer returns a feedback survey, Moravia donates every time the company’s fun video is watched, and SDL offers funds when the company’s holiday card is opened.  And so many more! Next time we will highlight the creative social hour set up by the Nordic Translation Industry Forum in honor of Translators without Borders.

Two tracks for the Wikipedia project

The Wikipedia project has already delivered 183 translations of health care articles into 25 languages, and 113 of these articles are already live in their local versions of Wikipedia, with very strong contributions in languages such as Bengali, Hindi, Persian and Tagalog, to name just a few.

In order to streamline this project, languages have been divided into two tracks. The day-to-day management of the languages in full roll-out has been entrusted to a new translation coordinator, volunteer Ildikó Santana, current language lead of the Wikipedia translation into Hungarian.

A second track for languages with partial roll-out will focus on adding new languages to the project. Volunteers are more than welcome, especially in languages of Africa and Asia.

The fast-track path into Translators without Borders

Volunteer translators form the very core of Translators without Borders. They donate their time, efforts and expertise to help doctors, nurses and other volunteers working in humanitarian organizations to make the world a better place.

Since translations related to humanitarian emergencies leave no time for reviews or mistakes, there is a strict procedure in place to ensure that all members of our team are experienced and solid translators, able to do it right the first time. Applications from potential volunteers are reviewed and, if approved, a sample translation is requested and then evaluated by at least two editors before a new translator is welcomed onto the team.

There is a second way, called the fast track, opened back in early 2011 when Translators without Borders was contacted by the organization GoodPlanet with the request of translating their new website into as many languages as possible. Since at that time the pool of volunteers was concentrated in the pairs of English to and from French, a decision was made to contact members of ProZ.com’s Certified PRO Network.

With over 3,400 members, the ProZ.com Certified PRO Network is an initiative of the ProZ.com community to provide qualified translators and translation companies with an opportunity to network and collaborate in an environment consisting entirely of screened professionals.

To enter the Certified PRO Network, ProZ.com members must complete an online application and submit it for review to prove they meet or exceed minimum professional standards based on the EN15038 standard for quality in translation and in three screening areas: translation ability, business reliability and online citizenship.

Since the screening of translation ability is essentially the same in both programs (and in both cases done on a platform powered by ProZ.com), a fast track was created whereby any translator who is part of the ProZ.com Certified PRO Network is automatically accepted as a Translator without Borders without the need of any further testing.

The fast track proved very powerful, and currently some 40% of the professionals approved by Translators without Borders were accepted because of their ProZ.com Certified PRO Network status.

The experience led to the decision to extend this approach to other industry certifications that involve active testing of translation abilities. In particular, the fast track benefits are also available to all ATA-certified translators—an opportunity that we would like to advertise better. We are working on identifying similar certification programs and announcing those fast track opportunities to potential volunteers.

There is good room for growth here. Feedback and advice will be very welcome.

Announce your contributions in your project history

There is nothing wrong in getting some good promotion for your generous contributions to Translators without Borders. If you have a ProZ.com profile, you can enter your contributions as part of your project history.

Once there, you should provide a short description of the project, indicate the language pair, field of expertise, date completed, volume in words translated and optionally a public comment. Then identify Translators without Borders as the client by entering User ID = 1352791, select the option to “submit to the outsourcer for corroboration and feedback” and click on “Submit.”

Translators without Borders will verify the data and corroborate your claim, and this will look good in your profile when it is visited by a potential client.

Since the end of July, the Translators without Borders (TWB) Healthcare Translators’ Training Center has been fully operational. Based on the lessons learned during the pilot test in April, we have revised our model. We changed the recruitment procedure, and also the training methods. We currently select people with strong Swahili language skills and provide basic medical information to make them familiar with health-related issues. After the training phase, trainees move into actual translation.

By now, the team consists of 13 fully trained translators/editors; almost half of them have a health background, the others have a language background. Those translators who have a health background make sure the linguists fully understand what they are translating.

Since July, the center has been located in the Upper Hill area of Nairobi, on the campus of the Bible Translation and Literacy (BTL) organization (also the home of the East Africa HQ of SIL, the developers of the Ethnologue). In January 2013 we will move from an annex on the campus into the main building. The translators will keep working on the translation of lots of healthcare material, and in February we will start training a new group.

Looking back, we have had a very good year in Kenya. In early March we had nothing. After the pilot in April we spent a great deal of time incorporating the lessons into a revised model. In July we were ready for a new start and everything that we have accomplished until now is the result of six months of hard work by many.

One of the courses we did was a series of short introductory lessons in Medical Translation to around 100 people in April 2011. Some of the participants have mentioned how much they benefited from the training. One good example is that of Sister Perpetua Nyakundi, who develops information about how to prevent and treat infectious eye diseases such as trachoma. A few months after the course she wrote a note to us:

“Thank you for the skills I received during the training. I have so far designed, developed and produced user-friendly information on trachoma in Maasai, Pokot and Turkana. I also produced the same on Cataract in Luo. These are already in circulation and in demand. Thank you for empowering me.”

When I contacted her to thank her for this message, Sister Perpetua commented that our introduction to translation, which highlighted that health information must be easy to understand, made her aware that a lot of the information she had been using was far too complex and therefore not easily accessible. She successfully chased funding and developed new materials. Her “thank you for empowering me” was especially gratifying to hear, as empowerment is exactly what we are aiming to do.

Model can be used in other parts of Africa

Africa is of course much larger than Kenya. Yet we will continue our focus on Kenya and on Swahili, as Swahili is the lingua franca for probably over 100 million people in the Eastern part of Africa. It is an area characterized by the combination of wide-spread poverty, poor public health and a health care system that is inadequate for many people. Also, it typically only has health information in English, which is not the appropriate language to reach most people. Empowering people to translate such materials will prove to have a life-saving effect. Our training model is constantly being evaluated so that eventually it can be used in other areas in Africa, or in other parts of the world, by TWB or by others.

Many thanks

Many people and organizations made our work in Kenya possible this first year. At this point I would like to thank Acrolinx for donating the computers we use in the center, Microsoft for the Windows and Office licenses, Kilgray for the memoQ licenses, Kimotho Waweru for setting up our computers, Dr. Iribe Mwangi of the University of Nairobi for his support and guidance, David Musungu and other external editors for their work, and all the bright minds who enhanced the quality of our training program by giving a guest lecture (representing Doctors without Borders, Google Africa, Praekelt Foundation, Microsoft, SIL, BTL, University of Nairobi and more).

Individuals and companies are actively supporting our work. Others donate money. It was heart-warming to learn about the various translation and localization companies who decided to donate $1,000 in our Fund-A-Translator program. A special thanks to Language Connect, which generously donated $5,000. Then there was the Polish language service provider TextPartner, which organized a 400-kilometer sponsored bike ride from Krakow to Budapest, raising $2,000! They will do another in May/June, covering five countries in their ride!  Another big thank you to Henry Dotterer, founder of ProZ.com, which powers our worldwide network of translators.  On top of all else they do, ProZ.com matched our Fund-a-Translator program in November as part of the #GivingTuesday campaign in the U.S.  Thanks to them and to so many others who have given to our training center.

TwB is a large organization, but it only has one paid staff member, Rebecca Petras. All other members of the management team are volunteers, combining TWB work with their day jobs. And again many others also combine their normal work with some level of volunteer work for TWB. We feel we have a great cause, and this is the time of the year to express our gratitude. On behalf of the Nairobi center manager, the translators and the editors at TWB Kenya, I would very much like to thank everybody for their input, efforts, donations and contributions during 2012. I sincerely hope that you will support us in 2013 as well! If you have read all this and feel you want to be part of it, please visit the TWB website, think about children who die because health information was not in a language they could understand, click the Donate button, and be generous. Thank you, and have a great 2013!

Silicon Valley lies some 9,000 miles away from West Africa, and a world away in terms of high-tech development. Yet organizations working in both regions require some similar skills. When Translators without Borders (TWB) needed help with healthcare initiatives aimed at countries such as Ethiopia, it turned to Content Rules, a Los Gatos-based professional services company that specializes in global content. Its brief was to simplify source material pre-translation to ensure that the end product would be easily understood by people of any background – absolutely crucial when lives are at stake.

A global approach

CEO Val Swisher explains that Content Rules has worked with content of all types, from words and pictures to multimedia. The company focuses on content strategy, development, and global readiness, to ensure source content is as easy as possible to translate. “Our work might be technical or related to marketing or training and we draw on a team of some 2,000 freelance professionals, including writers, editors, graphic artists and website coders. Our location means we have particular experience in the technology sector which also encompasses life science companies.” This expertise combined with the company’s global perspective means Content Rules is ideally placed to work with Translators without Borders.

“It was just before Christmas a year ago,” recalls Swisher, “that Translators without Borders approached us with a request to help with their Simple Wikipedia Project, a two-year project to translate into simple English a total of 80 medical articles posted on Wikipedia.”

The aim, Swisher says, was to facilitate translation into languages around the world. “I circulated a request for volunteers among our freelancers and the response was absolutely overwhelming. Since then, our volunteers have also helped develop a training course for a new team of translators in Nairobi on how to write using simplified English, produced health brochures and pamphlets for Kenya and worked on a major project called Health, Education and Training for Africa. This content was originally written for Ethiopia and we were tasked with making it more generically African so that it can be used as widely as possible. It’s already earmarked for use in Uganda.”

Life-changing work

Content Rules volunteers are currently working on multiple Translators without Borders projects. “They are all absolutely passionate about this work, as am I,” says Swisher. “I’ve been in this business for almost 19 years, during which time I’ve had the opportunity to work with some incredibly brilliant technical minds and some of the very best companies – but working with TWB is so direct and so personal and so life-changing. To be able to help and save lives in this way is a true honor and a blessing. Although it sounds corny, that is what I feel about this work, and it has become one of the main reasons I get up in the morning and come to work. If I were independently wealthy and didn’t need to earn any money, I’d donate 100 percent of my time to this effort, and every one of the editors who works on these projects feels the same.”

The mission of Make-a-Wish International is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. The organization was born in February of 1993 to serve the five countries granting wishes outside the U.S., and now helps to serve children outside the United States in 48 countries on five continents through its 37 affiliates. Translators without Borders assists Make-a-Wish in providing high-quality translations to share stories, train volunteers and pitch supporters in their native languages.

Make-a-Wish International chose Translators without Borders as its 2010-2011 Volunteer of the Year.

Sylvia Hopkins, Vice President of Marketing at Make-A-Wish International, gave an example of how the work of Translators without Borders volunteers make a difference to children suffering from life-threatening medical conditions: “An example of some translated materials is one of our tools which we use to work with the wish children to find out their ‘one true wish’; that tool is “Wish Cards”, which is a card game the wish granters use to play with the children. The wording on the cards have been translated into six languages. Another tool for extracting wishes is our ‘Wish Book’, which has also been translated into several languages.”

Hopkins added, “Our mission has no boundaries, and we know that a smile is a smile is a smile – in any language – and laughter has no accent, yet without translations, it would be very difficult to operate in other countries.”

The most common language translation provided to Make-A-Wish International is Spanish.

Translators without Borders’ volunteer efforts have proven highly valuable to Make-A-Wish International. Hopkins noted: “From collateral materials, to the tools mentioned above, to many forms of communications to our constituents: Make-A-Wish International has benefited from TWB’s professionalism and excellent work for various projects throughout the year! Thank you!!”

At Translators without Borders we are very lucky to have support from Content Rules. Founder and CEO, Val Swisher, besides being a board member, has also generously encouraged her English editors to volunteer time to edit important English content. In most cases the Content Rules team works with healthcare content for two of our biggest projects – the Wikipedia 80 x 100 project and the Open University HEAT project. Typically the team simplifies the content which is then translated into many languages. Additionally the edited English medical articles for Wikipedia are provided on simplified English Wikipedia and provided directly to readers throughout the world. This quarter we profile a number of the Content Rules Editors!

Nicole Acrey
I’m a trained linguist now working as a linguistic project consultant at Acrolinx GmbH. I studied linguistics during both my undergraduate and graduate studies and have had a lifelong affinity for languages – the way they can convey aspects of a culture and bring people together never ceases to amaze me. When I was asked to participate in a project for Translators without Borders, I quickly jumped at the opportunity, as I was greatly moved by the work that was being done by this organization. The editing and terminology work I’ve been doing for TWB has been eye-opening in terms of how valuable and important information can truly be. Getting to play even a small part in this fantastic cause has been a pleasure and I look forward to what comes next.

James Longbotham
As the Acrolinx project consultant responsible for supporting Translators without Borders, I’ve been involved in a number of initiatives on various fronts, mostly related to building up a medical glossary with translations in multiple African languages. I have a background in linguistics and don’t normally work as an editor, but I was glad to have the opportunity to move out from behind the scenes and help out with some actual editing. It became very clear, very fast, reading through and simplifying health guides for during and after pregnancy just how vital these initiatives are. If even only one life is saved because of access to this information, then all this work will have been more than worth it.

Amy Guzules
I’ve been an editor of networking technology content for 20 years. I’ve always known that the work that I do benefits readers by providing them with clear and concise instructions and conceptual information. Readers are better able to do their jobs because I work with content creators to correct errors and clarify meaning. When I’ve done my job well, readers don’t notice…they just get on with their work. But I don’t know that my efforts have had a life-changing impact on these readers. (Well, maybe the instructions to get two people to lift a fully loaded chassis helped to avoid a disaster!)

Then I was asked to volunteer my expertise for Translators without Borders. I felt called to help. I was amazed at the plans for the content and where it would be used after TWB was finished. Finally I could use my skills to have a positive, truly life-changing impact on other people. My work helps to provide clear medical information to people who do not have access to the type of medical care that I am blessed to have. This work feeds my soul, and I feel privileged to help TwB make a real difference in the world.

Marguerite Paolino
I have had experience in internal and external communications, journalism, marketing, public relations, speechwriting, and website development. In addition to providing freelance services, I work for UMass Medical School’s nonprofit health care consulting division, where I develop strategic communications for internal and external audiences.

I believe strongly in the mission of Translators without Borders. When I am working on a TWB project, I keep one thought in mind: the act of simplifying the words on the screen in front of me will make a difference for someone else. Access to clear, accurate information — especially about health care — can have a powerful, positive impact on individuals and communities. I am happy to have a role in making sure that people who need the facts actually have them.

Gaela Schlak
I have 15 years of experience as an Executive Assistant managing the busy schedules and projects of CEOs, Partners, Senior Directors, and Directors in both large and small companies. More recently I was promoted into the role of an Account Manager at Content Rules where project planning and management is the key to success. What I love most about what I do is the variety of projects and the diversity of people with whom I am privileged to work. I am still learning the content industry and I am fortunate enough to work with the best of the best at Content Rules.

It is my project management skills that I have found most helpful in working on Translators without Borders. We can have up to 10 articles in the process of being edited at any given time. I have the fun task of juggling each one of those articles, ensuring they get into the hands of our amazing editors.

There is no reason that the health of any person should be at risk due to a lack of properly written information – especially when we can do something about it! I am grateful to have the opportunity to participate on a project as far-reaching as TwB. I know the work we are doing is truly making a difference and changing lives.

Debra Rubin
I am an award-winning editor and writer working as a communications consultant. I provide editing, website content, profiles, features, op-eds, and research for varied clients, including media outlets, advocacy groups, think tanks, and communication firms. I’m a freelance copy editor for CQ Roll Call and have been working with College Summit, a nonprofit that seeks to create a college-going culture among low-income students. My articles have appeared in such outlets as The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, JTA, Religion News Service and Bethesda Magazine.

I’m interested in editing in the health field, so was delighted to volunteer as a copy editor to help simplify medical articles for Translators without Borders.

Daniel McMinn
I am a former Peace Corps volunteer to Ukraine who, after some world-traveling, decided with my wife that we would settle here in Lviv. You could say I liked Translators without Borders because I consider my technical editing a bit like doing crossword puzzles for a living. There’s enough challenge trying to figure out which words will fit where to make it interesting, and it’s profitable enough to meet my family’s needs, but I don’t feel like I’m making a contribution the way I sometimes feel about volunteer work. Since the Peace Corps I’ve been convinced that much of the best volunteer work is done by people who’ve found ways to repurpose skills they’ve developed from experience in the paying world. So of course I was thrilled to be able to use my content localization experience to help spread health information through the wonderful Wikipedia.

This past year has been exceptional for Translators without Borders. We have accomplished so much this year, much of which you can read about in this newsletter. None of it would be possible without the generous support of our sponsors and our donors, and the dedication of our volunteers.

To celebrate and honor our volunteers and donors, the board of Translators without Borders has established a new annual award program. The Translators without Borders’ Access to Knowledge Awards recognize individuals and organizations that have gone above and beyond with their commitment to or mission and vision.
The Translators without Borders’ Access to Knowledge Awards have been created within each of our ‘six pillars’, identified earlier this year in our strategic framework. These pillars—Organizational Excellence, Translator Community and Workspace, Training, Nonprofit Partnerships, Financial Sustainability, Awareness and Communications—are like the gears in an old clock: They must work together to accurately achieve our mission.

Choosing recipients for our six new awards was very difficult! We created criteria for each award–including the need for each recipient to be active since early this year—and disqualified all board members and staff members. Then we took nominations from board members. Finally, the executive committee member responsible for each pillar made the decision on recipient and honorable mentions, and the executive committee as a whole reviewed the final decisions.
The Translators without Borders’ Access to Knowledge recipients will receive a fashionable Translators without Borders T-Shirt, a lapel pin and a certificate of gratitude. Not much considering all they have done—but we are a low-budget operation!

Finally, before unveiling the awards, I’d like to say the real winners are the people who can better understand vital information because of the hard work of ALL of our volunteers and support from ALL of our donors. I wish we could recognize by name every single person who has contributed to Translators without Borders this year. Thank you very much to everyone!

The Excellence Award: Awarded to an individual who has gone above and beyond the call-of-duty in helping Translators without Borders meet its mission.

Awarded to Henry Dotterer
We just cannot say enough about Henry Dotterer, his company, ProZ.com, and the overall support provided to our mission. Henry not only enthusiastically offered to host and power the platform where the action happens (The Translators without Borders Translation Workspace), but also provides us with a full-time project manager and a developer who keeps improving the platform. Henry is also personally an advisor to Translators without Borders, and if that is not enough, he offered a funding match as part of #GivingTuesday in November, ultimately funding six new translators through our Fund-a-Translator program!

Honorable Mentions

Anne-Marie Colliander-Lind is key to our fundraising efforts, but she is so much more than that. She is a true cheerleader and champion of our cause.

Rocio Haskell, our volunteer coordinator who has helped us significantly improve our volunteer management system

Marla Schulman, our non-profit coordinator and a Silver sponsor who is instrumental in helping us attract more non-profits to our cause.

The Right to Knowledge Award: Awarded to an individual (or company contributor) who has made a difference through his or her ongoing commitment to translation of humanitarian information.

Awarded to Ildikó Santana
Ildikó is our language lead for Hungarian in the Wikipedia project. She has contributed 47,555 words. What makes Ildikó special is her proactive character and broad contributions that made Enrique Cavalitto appoint her this month as day-to-day coordinator for all mainstream languages in the Wikipedia project.

Honorable Mentions

The Content Rules Editors, creators of critical ‘translations’ into simplified English, especially for our Wikipedia project and HEAT healthcare project.

Marcia Miner, our top translator, contributing over 120K words since January 2011.

Ashutosh Mitra, our top non-European translator, over 50K words contributed, leader of the Wikipedia project into Hindi.

The Empowerment Award: Awarded to an individual whose work has allowed us to significantly move the barometer in increasing language capacity within a critical region of the world.

Awarded to Iribe Mwangi
Iribe is Senior Lecturer at University of Nairobi’s Department of Linguistics and Languages. He is advisor and counselor for TWBs activities in Kenya, is member of the board of directors of TWB Kenya, and has been a supporter of our work since November 2011, when we started preparing to set up the TWB Health Translators’ Training Center in Nairobi.

Honorable Mention

Common Sense Advisory, which created a critical piece of research for Translators without Borders this year, entitled “The Need for Translation in Africa.”

The Humanitarian Communicator Award: Awarded to a non-profit who understands the critical link between language/translation and access to critical knowledge.

Awarded to Médecins Sans Frontières (all regions)
In the first year of our awards, we want to recognize our very first non-profit, Médecins Sans Frontières. It was their request, and willingness to put funds back into their field operations, that kick started Translators without Borders almost 20 years ago! The organization continues to be a major believer in information provided in the right language, and several of MSF’ regions are active users of our services, especially Switzerland.

Honorable mentions

The Mother and Child Health and Education Trust/Nand Wadhwani , a real humanitarian hero.

Wikimedia Foundation/James Heilman, leader of a program that should change the availability of critical medical information in many languages.

Zafèn/Griselda Garibay, a great micro-lending humanitarian non-profit active in Haiti.

The Donor Award: Awarded to the individual or company or foundation/trust that has made a significant financial contribution to aid TWB in meeting its mission.

Awarded to Lionbridge
Lionbridge is a long-term supporter of Translators without Borders. This year the company became a Platinum sponsor of our organization. The company’s culture of giving has contributed to many individual donations over the past two years, but just as important, the management has supported TWB with in-kind donations and significant staff time in Europe and North America.

Honorable Mentions

eLanex, our first Platinum sponsor with a very committed leader, Donald Plumley, at the helm

Rubric, our very first Gold sponsor and a truly dedicated supporter

Text Partner, a Fund-a-Translator donor who not only raised enough funds for two translators through their bike ride through Eastern Europe, but also created awareness for our cause.

The Communicator of the Year: Awarded to the person who has creatively used marketing and public relations to build awareness of the organization and the need to provide content in the right language.

Awarded to Marina Sayfulina
Marina is our tireless social media maven. Through Marina’s efforts, our Twitter followers have grown to more than 4,400 and our Facebook fans have exceeded 5,000. While others certainly contribute to social media, Marina is always in the background, just chugging along, getting our name out there. She will often pull things from the website and get them on our networks in interesting ways. She has introduced us to Google+ and maintains communications through LinkedIn as well. She also communicates directly with people who post to our networks. And she does it all with a smile.

Honorable Mentions

Dominic Spurling, our chief web engineer without whom we would be lost!

Chily Vico-Gimena, our designer who created our website design, brochure design and much, much more

Markus Meisl, always there, communicating with our donors

Ashutosh Mitra is an English <> Hindi translator based in Allahabad, in India. He joined Translators without Borders (TWB) in August 2011 and, with 39,000 words donated, he’s the top TwB translator for English to Hindi. He’s also the language lead for Hindi in the WikiProject Medicine.

Hi, Ashutosh! Tell us a bit about yourself as a translator.

I was in marketing for nine years, but was dissatisfied. I come from a literary family — both my parents are Sanskrit and Hindi authors and teachers, so my passion for languages was calling. In 2002 I took the plunge and started writing and translating stories for children and neo-literates. I started working in the medical field and other domains in 2005.

What made you volunteer for Translators without Borders?

I had the urge to give back to society, so I decided to grab the offer placed by Enrique Cavalitto. He is the reason I joined and he’s very supportive… a big THANKS to him.

Any particular memorable TWB project or anecdote?

I have not contributed much (around 39,000 words only), but each project that I do is a challenge, as in our profession you have a new job almost every day, which need not be from common fields.

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

Unlike many other languages, few Hindi translators are coming forward to contribute to the cause at Translators without Borders. Hence, most of the time, being busy with other projects, these projects get delayed from my side or from other contributors. Though I try to translate at least 200-300 words a day for the project, time management becomes critical. Content is always a challenge, and if it is missing… then translating will be like any other monotonous job.

You’re the top Translator without Borders in your language pair (English to Hindi). Tell us a bit about TwB Hindi projects?

My major contribution is for the WikiProject Medicine (almost 90%). In India, literacy and health care are major issues. Hindi is spoken and understood across the country, so any information available in Hindi will certainly reach masses. The other project is the “HealthPhone healthcare project”. In India, mobile phones have reached even uneducated people, so these healthcare-related audio and visual materials, if made available with cheap phones, will be a big help for these populations.

When you are not translating for TWB, what do you enjoy doing to take a break from translation?

Rejuvenation is very important. I take breaks and spend few full days with my family, especially with my children.

For our last issue of this year, we interviewed Rocio Haskell, a Paris lover and a yoga teacher, who has a varied professional background, and is in charge of coordinating non-translator volunteers for Translators without Borders (TWB). Rocio has helped to bring some structure and centralize information about volunteers, so as to meet Translators without Borders’ current needs with the right volunteers for the tasks ahead.

• If you were to write a brief wiki article about yourself, what facts and personal characteristics would you include?

I am dedicated to many diverse activities; I have never planned anything, but things just sorted themselves out! I studied Management at Northwestern University, and later my experience in different jobs has taken me to many places all in the world, including almost every country in Latin America. I have been living in Geneva for a year now since my husband took a position here.

• What is your role at Translators without Borders?

My main role involves coordinating non-translator volunteers. I met Rebecca and Lori in Paris, and told them I had signed up for volunteering 6 months earlier, and no one had contacted me! So I told them, “You need somebody to coordinate the rest of the tasks, such as social media, the website…” There was nobody looking for help with non-translation tasks like accounting. Now, we have added some pages to the website, and we recruit people who are not translators as well since we also need other types of volunteers. Basically, I deal with issues that do not have direct relation with translation itself, but with screening translators, reframing the processes, putting in place the structure, the network, and the organizational framework. I also address questions such as, “What are our needs? Do we have the right people with the right skills to fulfill those needs?”

• What has motivated you to help TWB?

Translators without Borders crosses over many non-profits since it supports other organizations and it helps them to communicate better. I have engaged with TwB’s message and goals, and I think I have found my own niche within the organization: I identified the need of recruiting non-translators and I volunteered to be in charge of this task.

• How do you squeeze in time for your volunteer tasks?

Every day I devote a couple of hours to working with volunteers; I feel productive and useful spending my time with TwB’s tasks. I really enjoy talking and working with Lori and Rebecca; they are so different from each other, but their individual voices project so much enthusiasm – they are inspiring!

• What do you consider are the challenges ahead for your role and for TWB?

As Translators without Borders is an entirely volunteer-based organization, the main challenge is expanding the network to find translators and other necessary roles; that is, finding the right people with the adequate set of skills (in relation to fund raising, for instance) and having the channels to find dedicated people for sustained periods of time. We need to keep volunteers engaged with our cause.

• What would you say to someone who is thinking about joining a cause like TWB?

Well, to someone who is not a translator, but would like to join Translators without Borders, I would say that we definitely need supporting roles and supporting players in order for translation to occur. Join in, try it and see if it is for you! All roles are important, and sustained volunteering is paramount; every ten volunteers, one sticks – that makes it worthwhile.

• To what extent do your professional and personal goals come together with your volunteer work?

Very early on in my career I noticed that I can help people out with the business side of things. For example, when I served as a Localization Manager with Wells Fargo, I collaborated with La Cocina, a small business initiative, where women knew a lot about the core of the business – cooking – but needed help with bookkeeping. So I select causes that are part of my world, i.e., which involve multicultural communication.

• What do you feel is your greatest achievement within Translators without Borders and beyond, and what is your biggest dream in life?

I think that some great achievements in my area include building a database for volunteers who are non translators, allowing the board to support their higher up activities, setting up a process, identifying needs – since when you need volunteers, you also need marketing and a means to communicate with them, through social media, for instance. Now, everything is in one place, and all applicants go there. We have centralized the information, which makes it easier and more efficient for everybody – and most importantly, we all share the same information now!

Target shooting
In paper: Classic French novelists 
On the web: New York Times and all sites about Paris!
Open-air activity: Bike-riding 
With friends: A cup of coffee and some pastry 
Family gathering: Thanksgiving