Paula Góes

Translation and the Multilingual Web

Paula Góes — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:56:47 +0000

I will be going to Budapest for the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008, taking place on June 27-28. More than just going, I will be part of a panel of speakers debating Translation and the Multilingual Web, mostly reflecting on our work for the GVO Lingua Project. Here is what we are going to talk about:

In Our Own Words

We the global online citizens have never been really apart from each other, but also have never really been together partly because of language barriers. Fortunately, participants of citizen media all around the world have recognized this situation and are doing enormous efforts to bridge those divides. Projects like Yeeyan, Interlocals.net, Gyaku, Cucumis, Avaaz, Wikipedia and of course Global Voices are models of human translation with online cooperation, while there are also numerous tools offered by online services which can make the work more effortless. In the fourth session of day two, the summit will be focusing on the translation within citizen media: how to translate various languages in complex international contexts? What are the limits? And how we can go beyond those limits?

Portable (and free) transation memory

Paula Góes — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:24:39 +0000

I came across recently Lingotek, a translation technology that combines project management with the power of Language Search Engines, which rather than searching the internet, users’ translation memories and portability – you can access the tool from any connected computer (which is good news for those who have MACs, like me, who have been left out of the TM market). I have been playing with it and must say I am impressed. It seems to be a fabulous project and I still can’t believe it is FREE!

Media Futures Conference

Paula Góes — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:52:02 +0000

I have confirmed participation at the Media Futures Conference, run by the BBC and produced Nico Macdonald, which sounds very interesting:

The Media Futures Conference is a one day exploration of the dynamics and trends shaping the future of media. As well as an opportunity for lively debate, the conference will feature presentations showcasing innovative projects, demonstrating smart thinking in practice and illustrating the scope of what is possible.

It is going to take a full day and I believe this will be quite intense. And hopefully as inspiring as The New new journalism Innovation Forum I was luck to attend earlier this month.

The ideas exposed there were quite ‘innovative’, to say the least, and they do worry me a bit – not that I would be scared with the apocalyptic visions of the end of journalism (and journalists) the way we know it. Thinking about the role of the neo audience, as I would call what has been described as the “people formerly known as the audience”, is no doubt food for thought.

Having only come back to the journalism practice and thought recently, after a nearly 5 year hiatus, and still trying to do it besides a full time life as a translator, I realized how rusty I am, and how much I have to catch up with. Which is always exciting.

Online tools to learn/practise languages

Paula Góes — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:29:58 +0000

I had a quiet day today so I spent some time looking for ways to improve my intermediate Spanish and basic Hungarian. I came across two websites that may be a good idea – if you have the time and dedication to learn online:

My Language Exchange – An online community of people looking forward to practice their second language, with “over 1 million members from over 133 countries, practicing 115 languages”, which looks quite impressive.

Livemocha: currently a beta site which promises to be the “first of its kind web based language learning solution integrating online instructional content with a global community of language learners”. They also have a blog, and I did check the jobs page but there is not need for a Portuguese speaking translator/journalist at the moment, :). I have signed up for courses in Spanish and French, and while it is still beta version, it is free!