Translators without Borders began over 20 years ago in Paris. Over the years, by far the most translated language pair has been English <-> French. This is partly due to the organization’s origins, but it is also because English and French are the chief languages of development in the world. This is true on both ends of the spectrum. The biggest international non-profit organizations are based in the US, UK, France and Switzerland. At the same time many beneficiaries have French or English as second languages, making them critical for sharing knowledge.
We have a fabulous group of English <-> French professional volunteers who are approved to work in our Workspace. But despite their hard work, we often must scramble to cover all the work that comes into the center in this language pair. In fact, the work from English to French has been increasing, and unfortunately, we must turn some away. We are in desperate need of more resources to cover this gap.
Become a Translators without Borders translator
If you are an experienced translator in the English <-> French language pair (or any language pair), it is not difficult to become a Translator without Borders. The first step is to complete our application on our website – it only takes a few minutes. The questions are quite simple and are intended to gauge your experience. This is very important because we ask our volunteers to work directly with the non-profit partners and often we do not have an editing step.
Importantly, we have partnered with a number of associations and sponsors to ‘fast track’ translators into the system. This means that the volunteer does not need to take a test before being accepted. Be sure to mark on your application if you are certified by one of the listed associations or if you work with one of our fast track sponsorship partners.
If you are approved, you will become a Translator without Borders. This means you will be alerted when a job is available for you. You can decide at that time whether you have time to accept the job or not – we understand that some times you will have time and other times you will not! That is perfectly acceptable. Once you do start to translate for Translators without Borders, you will get a badge showing your word count that you can use in your email or on your website.
Our charity is only successful because of the hard work of our volunteers. It is only because of our volunteers that we are able to help more people around the world gain access to vital information. Thanks to all who have helped us – and all who will help us in the future!