The Internet and social media have brought people closer together, laying the foundation for new ways of collaborating. One of them is crowdsourced translation. A practice of engagement that brings together talent from all walks of life for a common purpose. This type of crowdsourcing is usually web-based, so members can publish, edit, and share potential translations as conveniently as possible. As a student translator it is always exciting to learn about new technologies and teamwork in the field of translation studies. Instead of working independently, people now share workloads and have managed to provide incredible translations that are simple, fast and cheap. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The term “crowdsourcing” was coined in May 2006, when a journalist named Jeff Howard wrote an article “The Rise of Crowdsourcing” for Wired Magazine Crowdsourcing is the act of “taking work traditionally done by a designated employee and outsource it to an indefinite, usually large, group of people in the form of an open call,” using the Internet. From this definition we know that a crowd could come together to accomplish complex projects in a way that had never been possible in larger companies. Translation has traditionally been kept in a silo, where only professional translators did the work. Crowdsourcing opens up this silo, so that all people, be they hobbyists, volunteers, students, or anyone who has a broad interest in translation, but has never had the opportunity to do so, are involved in a translation project. The prime example of this would be Ted, an industry that invites volunteers to translate original transcripts. During the translation process, volunteers are free to consult online materials and the knowledge of colleagues in the hope of providing “a diverse mosaic of quality, appropriateness” and usability. A special team of more experienced volunteers is assembled to review, edit and edit the final translation before it is published. With our growing connectivity, it is easier than ever for individuals to contribute collectively, whether with ideas or expertise. Additionally, crowdsourced translation initiatives also served as “training environments” for beginners to improve their techniques. The popular use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs allows users to register, create profiles and share their daily activities “from how-to campaigns to last night's dinner”. Although English used to be considered the dominant language on the Internet, today it only accounts for 53.2% of its content. In 2008, Facebook launched its first public translation project. The company realized that to achieve internalization it had to expand outside of America. Until then, Facebook was only available in English. But translating a site and localizing it can be an extremely time-consuming and lengthy process. With this in mind, Facebook encouraged all users, including my brother and his friends, to participate in this huge project. At the time they did this there were about 2,400 sentences that needed to be translated in order to have Facebook available in another language. To make the translation process easier for users, the company created a translation app on the Facebook platform. Once the app is installed and activated, each word to be translated is highlighted. People can click on a word and vote on the translation that others have already submitted previously. The company applies the translation.
tags