Category: Uncategorized

In the spring, we conducted a comprehensive survey of the Translators without Borders volunteer translators, receiving 440 replies (about 30% of the surveys that were sent out). The results were quite encouraging, and we have used them to make changes and improvements to the Workspace (detailed in our 08 article in this newsletter).

 

Question 1: How did you first learn about Translators without Borders (TWB)?

• The majority of repliers (67.5%) found out about TWB through ProZ.com.
• Word of mouth was the second choice (9.6%) followed by the TWB webpage (7.8%).
• Then came social media (6.9%), industry event/association/magazine (3.2%) and web searches (2.5%).

 

Question 2: How did you become a translator without borders?

• 43.8% of respondents were accepted when their sample translation was approved.
• 38.5% were fast-tracked because they were ProZ.com certified PRO members.
• The third source of volunteers (14.1%) corresponds to jobs and direct requests posted in ProZ.com.
• The remaining translators were fast-tracked because they were ATA certified (2.0%) or were recommended by a trusted outsourcer (1.6%).

Question 3: How long did your application take to be processed?

• For 43.8% of respondents the applications were processed in less than a week.
• This delay was one to two weeks for 24.4% of respondents.
• It took 3 to 4 weeks for 16.6% of the replies.
• 6.4% of replies reported a processing time of 5 to 8 weeks, while 8.8% indicated a delay longer than 8 weeks.

 

Question 4: How long have you been with TWB?

• About half of respondents (50.6%) reported more than 12 months with TWB.
• About half of the remaining respondents (23.4%) reported 7 to 12 months.
• 16.6% had been with TWB for 3 to 6 months.
• 5.1% answered 1 to 2 months, while 4.4% reported less than a month with TWB.

Question 5: What is the main factor that motivates you to accept a TWB assignment?

• The top reason reported was availability (58.9%).
• Next came the organization asking for help (13.0%) and the impact of the project  (13.9%).
• The subject of the translation  came next with 10.9% of votes.
• Finally came a generous deadline (0.5%), the format of the files (0.2%) and a combination of the above factors  (2.6%).

Question 6: How many assignments have you completed for Translators without Borders? 

The picture below displays the answers received:

• None so far (16.1%)
• One or two (26.4%)
• Three to five ( 21.8%)
• Six to ten (16.1%)
• More than 10 (19.7%)

 

Question 7: If you answered none so far to question 6, can you please tell us why?

Almost 80% of the translators who did not deliver words so far said that there are few jobs in their language pairs. The replies were:

• Limited or no opportunities in my language pair (46.9%).
• Others pick up the jobs quicker than me (32.1%).
• Limited time to help (21.0%).

Question 8: Do you always feel the work you are asked to do is strictly humanitarian?

• Yes (92.7%).
• Subject was Business/Admin/Technical (4.6%).
• I think some NGOs could pay for the translations (1.7%).
• I don’t think Wikipedia is humanitarian (1.0%).

Question 9: What changes in the TWB Workspace would motivate you to take more TWB assignments?

A total of 242 replies were received for this question. Since they were sent as free text, they were classified into categories as follows:

• 40.5%  No changes required.
• 7.0%    Longer/more flexible deadlines.
• 7.0%    More opportunities in my language pair.
• 6.6%    Shorter, more frequent translations.
• 6.2%    More time to decide/time-zone.
• 5.8%    I don’t know yet.
• 5.8%    More assignments related to my fields of expertise.
• 3.3%    Better format/no tags.
• 2.9%    Better coordination in multi-translator jobs/TMs and glossaries.
• 2.9%    Public exposure to help me get jobs/references.
• 2.5%    Better selected/more visible humanitarian projects/feedback on impact.
• 2.1%    A better/easier to use translation page/better assistance.
• 1.7%    Translating for organizations that are transparent, texts that clearly add value to the organizations’ work.
• 1.2%    Online TMs and glossaries.
• 1.2%    Receiving tokens of appreciation/advantages/motivational gifts.
• 0.8%    Indication of language variant.
• 0.4%    Better quality of the source texts.
• 0.4%    Disentanglement from ProZ.
• 0.4%    It is fine now, however, it may contain the translator’s credentials and memberships as well underneath the translator’s name.
• 0.4%    Monolingual proofreading jobs available.
• 0.4%    More concrete information about the job poster: how they are organized and financed, do they have other volunteers and what do those volunteers do, why have they chosen to use TWB’s services and to what use will they concretely put the money they’re not spending on paying translators. Also, I would like the screening process of NGOs by TWB to be transparent and explicit, for example what are the criteria to let NGOs use TWB. I haven’t been able to find that on the TWB website.
• 0.4%    Possibility of applying translations for each segment in a web-based translation memory specific to the translator.

Question 10: How would you rate the job posting page (the page from which you either accept or decline the job)?

‘I am not familiar with it’ was the answer selected by 8.2% of respondents. Of the translators who are familiar with the platform, the answers were:

• Adequate (92.6%).
• Not very clear (4.8%).
• Should include more information (specify)  (2.6%).

The additional data requested in the last category include more information about the job poster, the subject matter, the language variant, glossaries and translation memories.

Question 11: Do you find the TWB workspace http://twb.translationcenter.org/workspace easy to use?

‘I am not familiar with it’ was the answer selected by 11.9% of respondents. Of the translators who are familiar with the platform, the answers were:

• Very easy (62.9%).
• Somewhat easy (32.6%).
• Somewhat difficult (4.5%).
• Very difficult (0.0 %).

Question 12: What is the main CAT tool you use (if any) to process the TWB jobs?

Trados was the most frequent answer (40.2%) followed by Wordfast (12.9%), MemoQ (5.5%), Deja Vu (2.1%) and Across 7 (1.7%). A third (33.3%) reported using no CAT tool for these assignments and 4.29% reported using other CAT tools.

 

Question 13: How helpful would it be to have a TM available from TWB when translating a 1,000- 2,500-word text?

• Very helpful (41.6%).
• Helpful (27.4%).
• Somewhat helpful (21.3%).
• Not helpful (9.7%).

Question 14: Would you be willing to share the translation memories corresponding to your TWB translations?

• Yes (85.4%).
• No (14.6%).

Question 15: What changes in the TWB Workspace would contribute to improving the quality of the translations?

We received 178 meaningful suggestions, including:

• Editing, especially in jobs involving several translators.
• More information on the target audience.
• A glossary of preferred terms for each client, including all acronyms used.
• Availability and sharing of translation memories.
• Faster and better response from clients to queries from translators.
• A style guide, general and per client.
• Rules for the translators to follow, like font, size, spacing, indents, headings, and subheadings, etc. so all parts would be compiled and be in harmony together.
• Take into account the translators’ specialization when a job is assigned.

Question 16: How would you rate the information provided about the organization that asks for the translation?

• There is enough information and it’s well displayed (60.5%).
• There is enough information, but it is poorly displayed (6.0%).
• It is well-displayed, but there is not enough information (15.7%).
• There is not enough information and it is also poorly displayed (5.5%).
• I’m not familiar with the TWB Workspace (12.4%).

Question 17: How would you rate the information provided about each project?

• There is enough information and it’s well displayed (61.5%).
• There is enough information, but it is poorly displayed (4.7%).
• It is well-displayed, but there is not enough information (17.7%).
• There is not enough information and it is also poorly displayed (3.5%).
• I’m not familiar with the TWB Workspace (12.5%).

Question 18: How would you rate the Translators without Borders notifications?

• Adequate (84.2%).
• Not very clear (3.5%).
• Should include more information (6.1%).

◦   (the most relevant request was deadline for the job)

• I have not received any (6.1%).

Question 19: How would you rate the feature for communicating with other translators, the project manager (PM) and the client about the job?

• Excellent (22.1%).
• Good (40.9%).
• Somewhat good (9.3%).
• Not good (3.1%).
• I did not use it yet (24.7%).

Question 20: How would you rate the support provided by the project managers in the TWB Workspace?

• Excellent (33.6%).
• Good (37.4%).
• Somewhat good (6.9%).
• Not good (1.7%).
• I never used the TWB Workspace (20.5%).

Question 21: Do you feel appropriately appreciated for the work you do for humanitarian organizations through TWB?

• Yes, very much (50.9%).
• Yes, somewhat appreciated (41.9%).
• Not properly appreciated (7.2%).

Some comments received from translators who don’t feel properly appreciated:

• No thank you message received.
• No proper acknowledgement for reviewers (word count and badge).
• Lack of feedback and proper replies from clients to queries.
• Lack of credit for the translated documents.

Question 22: Do you follow Translators without Borders activity on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Twitter, blogs, etc.)? Please specify.

• About half the respondents do not follow TWB on social media.
• Among those who do, Facebook is the most common channel, followed by Twitter and LinkedIn.
• A few mention TWB’s newsletter and Lori Thicke’s blog.
• Most translators who follow TWB in social media mention a single channel.

Question 23: Do you use the TWB badge in other webpages besides the TWB Workspace and your ProZ.com profile?

• Yes (15.1%)
• No (41.2%)
• I don’t know about the TWB badge (31.5%)
• I don’t have a TWB badge (12.2%)

Question 25: Did you know that you can enter your contributions through Translators without Borders in the project history section of your ProZ.com profile and have them validated?

• Yes, and I have done so (11.1%)
• Yes, but I have not done so yet (15.6%)
• No (73.3%)

 

Question 24: How could TWB provide better recognition to its volunteers?

Many translators report that they don’t need any additional recognition beyond the pleasure of giving, but a few have some interesting suggestions for improvement:

• The interactive badge is much appreciated. A similar device for the words edited and also for the translation samples reviewed would be very welcome.
• WWA feedback in the translator’s ProZ.com profile is very appreciated.
• Endorsed project history in the  translator’s ProZ.com profile is appreciated but most translators did not know about this feature and some find it difficult to enter.
• The “translator of the week” on Facebook and LinkedIn is much appreciated.
• TWB certificates of donation, especially monetized, so they can be used as donation certification for tax purposes.
• A window of “featured volunteer” in the TWB webpage similar to the one displayed on ProZ.com.
• Credit to translators and editors in the final client documents.
• Special thanks sent to translators when they reach milestones (for instance multiples of 10K words donated).
• A thank you note from the client who posted the job.
• By offering references to potential clients, upon request.
• By reviewing the translation samples more quickly.
• By linking the projects to the translators’ ProZ.com profiles.
• For those on Twitter, an automatic tweet to notify jobs and acknowledge receipt of translations.
• Some token gifts for top contributors.
• Encouraging virtual meetings among volunteers.

 

Question 25: Your message for Translators without Borders?

We received 260 messages, most of them telling of the translators’ joy and pride of being part of TWB. Some of them regret that there are not more jobs in their language combinations. A few samples:

• All contributors to this cause are doing a great job, and I encourage everyone to keep up the good work.
• Better communication with volunteers, even if there are no jobs, just to let us know we’re still on the books and valued.
• By volunteering my skills and time, it’s made me feel good about myself and I did not expect anything back.
• Congratulations for your work. I feel that our contribution can make the difference, and thank you for making it possible.
• I have been a professional translator since 1997 with no need for further recognition or experience, but TWB could be a great place for young translators to gain some exposure while trying their hand at real-world texts and CAT tools. Maybe you could put in place some kind of mentorship program which could make TWB even more appealing to beginners and guarantee better translations from them.
• I believe that this is a wonderful initiative. I am very impressed by the number of translators participating in this initiative, and this proves to me that a world based on collaboration rather than competition is possible, especially today because of the internet. TWB is the right model and there is no excuse not to expand it in all directions (tous azimuts).
• I cannot find words that may express accurately and fairly enough the amazing job you are doing. Creating and managing a team of so many people around the world, giving part of their time sharing their knowledge and skills to help people who they will not even see, just for the pleasure to help is beyond words. Thank you very, very much for letting me be a part of such a wonderful team!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caroline Ahlquist took on the role of Translators without Borders’ (TWB) international marketing intern from January–July 2013. She was interested in working with TWB in part due to her experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay.  Here she tells stories from the front-line and calls on all translators to make a difference.

I served in Villa Oliva, a small town in Paraguay, from 2010-2012. Villa Oliva was lucky, it was located on the Argentine border and thus, most people spoke Spanish and had access to the Argentine medical system. It was unlike other towns in Paraguay, where poverty means you speak Guarani and you only see a doctor when you are born and when you die.

Despite the fact that Villa Oliva was relatively well-informed in Paraguay, there is still lack of knowledge that could be addressed with more information provided to villagers in their own languages (Spanish or Guarani). Here are three stories from my service that shed light on the front-line knowledge gap.

There was a rumor that I was a vegetarian. Even though people regularly saw me eat meat, they knew that I ate a lot of vegetables and had a large veggie garden in my backyard. Thus, in their eyes I was a vegetarian. One day as I was walking to school, I ran into an eighth grade student of mine. We started talking and she asked me about being a vegetarian. I gave her my stock answer, that meat is like beer, it’s only good if it is consumed in moderation. She looked at me with relief and explained that she had been worried about me because she had heard of an old man in the next town over who was a vegetarian and died because of a lack of cow’s blood.

A woman came down with something I had never seen before. It was basically an open wound that, even after months, refused to close. She had gone to the town doctors and then to a private doctor in the capital city. She was complaining about the pain to a friend one day, lamenting the fact that doctors weren’t doing anything to help her. The friend responded, “Well Aunty, at this point there is only one answer. You will have to capture a toad and put it on the wound.”

Like all Peace Corps volunteers, I spent three months of training living with a host family. My family was amazing and adopted me as their own. To this day, if you go to their house, my little host sister will say the room I lived in is Carolina’s room, despite the fact that she has been sleeping in it for three years now. My host mom was telling me one day about how her aunt saved her life. Apparently, as a young girl she had fallen out of a tree and become concussed. Her aunt went running to the bathroom and then the kitchen. She came back with her own urine mixed with salt and spooned it into her niece’s mouth. After hearing this I obviously grimaced. My host mom told me that, as her daughter, if I ever pass out she will spoon me the same concoction because, in her word, nothing is better for a knock on the head than pee-pee.

These stories are always entertaining and my American friends and family always enjoy a good laugh when I tell them. Truthfully I have hundreds more like this, not only from Paraguay, but from my time in India and Korea as well. We can laugh at them, but they sadly illustrate the continuation of a power structure that is as old as the printing press: those who hold information hold power; those who do not are left in ignorance.

When I talk about access to information, I receive blank stares. I have one foot in the development industry and one foot in the localization industry, and professionals from both are confused and/or uninspired by the idea. When you speak English, the language of business, the language of medicine, but really the language of power, you don’t have to care about where a non-English speaker goes for their information. We can Google any question that might arise. But where does a speaker of Guarani go for information?

They go to someone they know who probably has the same bad information as everyone else. Doctors in Paraguay study in English, even if they can’t speak it. That is why my friend couldn’t find an answer to the problem with her open wound.

The only people in the world who hold the key to breaking down the information power structure are translators. This is my call to arms for the translation industry: Get out of your comfort zone in the industry and give access to information to those who don’t have it. It is on you, the translators and localizers, to make people see the problem, to make information a part of the development dialogue.

Information is power: It was true in medieval times when priests would not allow their followers to read the bible in their language; it is true when dictators come to power and ruin the education system in their countries; and it is true when we speakers of the power language allow ourselves to be blind to the lack of information available to those who don’t speak it.

Swahili Translations

July saw the completion by our Health Translation Center in Nairobi, Kenya, of the translation of some 250,000 words of high-level health information. The content was written by the Open University (UK) to train community health workers in the Swahili-speaking regions of East Africa. The completed modules are Prenatal Care, Labour & Delivery Care, and Postnatal Care. Other modules are in the pipeline, and these are about topics such as Infant Care Nutrition and Family Planning.

The team also recently completed the Swahili translation of ten videos on New Born Care. These instructional videos have been conceptualized and produced by Deb Van Dyke’s Global Health Media (http://globalhealthmedia.org/newborn/videos ).  In total the team has translated more than 20 videos. The work involved the translation of the English captions (subtitles) and putting the Swahili subtitles in the video, as well as recording the narrative, with Rodha Moraa, one of the translation team members, serving as the ‘voice actor’.

The translation team, recruited and trained in the summer of 2012, has now developed into a super group of experienced health translators. The team is also rather unique, as in East Africa there is no other group of experienced linguists and health workers whose skills and educational backgrounds are combined to work on the translation of such material. We are speaking with international as well as local NGOs about involving our translation team in their projects.

Training-In-A-Box

During the coming months we will be investigating the possibility of a program called ‘Training-In-A-Box’.  All training material, lecture notes and exercises will be evaluated, and if relevant, updated. The material will then be organized into one package – one ‘Box’ as it were –  which TWB can use to support the translator training of linguists and health workers all over the world.

The medical modules concern 15-20 ‘Africa-relevant’ topics, including pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, bilharzia, as well as topics from the social medicine field, such as malnutrition, unsafe abortion, female genital mutilation, and more. Each module has between 15 and 50 slides, and we are in the process of typing in the narrative. The material also includes a large section about the profession of translation.

“The Training-In-A-Box program is an attempt to bring together our know-how and best practices from years of training a host of translators in many different countries,” says TWB President Lori Thicke. “I’m sure it’s going to make the starting up of new teams in the future a whole lot easier.”

Thank you Fund-A-Translator Charity Ride Sponsors!

The second Fund-a-Translator Charity Ride, developed and organized by TextPartner in Poland, took place earlier this summer.  Our dedicated cyclists organized a ride through five countries in eastern Europe for a total of 589 kilometers!  Each kilometer was available to sponsors for $5. The purpose of the annual ride is to raise funds and awareness for our trainees in Kenya.  Each $1,000 raised helps us train a translator for a year.

This year the event was so successful that the team raised the $2,945 for the ride and then kept going beyond $3,000, ending up with a total of 652 sponsored kilometers ($3,260).   As promised, they rode the additional kilometers in an extra ride to make sure every sponsored kilometer was cycled.

The TextPartner team conceived of the charity ride in 2012 and did their first ride that year to the ELIA conference in Budapest. Plans are underway for the 2014 ride and the route will be announced soon!

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