How do translation students collaborate?: Crowdsourcing and the translator training curriculum
Mª del Mar Sánchez RamosUniversity of Alcalá (Spain)
• I.- Crowdsourcing
• II.- Crowdsourcing in the translation classroom
• III.- Didactic materials design
• IV.- Conclusions
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I.-Crowdsourcing
• Crowdsourcing:• Term coined by J. Howe (2006), ‘The Rise of
Crowdsourcing’, Wired magazine• Howe, J. (2008). Crowdsourcing: Why the Power Of
the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business. New York: Three River Press
• ‘taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call’ (Howe, 2008)
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I.-Crowdsourcing
• “translation practices involving the Internet crowd are still an emerging phenomenon with even its label yet to be agreed upon” (O´Hagan, 2011: 15-16)
• Collaborative translation, community translation, crowdsourcing, user-generated translation, social translation / localisation…
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I.-Crowdsourcing
• Open source software localisation:• Translator communities
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I.-Crowdsourcing• Collaborative platforms (Pootle) to localise open source
software (Tuxpaint, Wordpress) into different languages
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I.-Crowdsourcing• Non profit sector: Translators without Borders, KIVA,
Permondo, The Rosetta Foundation
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II.- Crowdsourcing in the translation classroom
• Localisation: 4º course • Degree in Modern Languages and Translation (UAH)
Syllabus Workload
UNIT 1.- PRINCIPLE ISSUES IN LOCALISATION 3 hours
UNIT 2.- WEBSITE LOCALISATION 9 hours
UNIT 3.- SOFTWARE LOCALISATION 9 hours
UNIT 4. MOBILE LOCALISATION 9 hours
UNIT 5.- LOCALISATION STANDARS 9 hours
UNIT 6.- REVIEW 6 hours
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Semana / Sesión Contenido
01ª Unit 1: Principle issues in Localisation: Introduction
02ª Unit 1: Principle issues in Localisation: Main tools
03ª Unit 2: Website Localisation: HTML and CSS
04ª Unit 2: Wesite Localisation: Style sheets
05ª Unit 2: Website Localisation: Images Localisation
06ª Unit 3: Software Localisation: Progamming introduction
07ª Unit 3: Software Localisation: Industrial Localisation tools
08ª Unit 3: Software Localisation: Open Source software
09ª Unit 3: Software Localisation: Social Localisation
10ª Unit 4: Mobile Localisation: Introduction to mobile development
11ª Unit 4: Mobile Localisation: Building and localising your application (ANDROID)
12ª Unit 4: Mobile Localisation: Building and localising your application (WINDOWS PHONE)
13ª Unit 5: Localisation Standards: Introduction
14ª Unit 5: Localisation Standards: XLIFF tutorial
15ª Review
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III.- Didactic materials design
• Learning objectives:• To make students aware of new trends in translation
and localisation• To boost cooperative and team working skills• To familiarize translation students with main CAT tools
and collaborative platforms used in open source software localisation (Virtaal, Pootle) and standards and files (PO, POT, MO)
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III.- Didactic materials design
• General theoretical introduction to open source software localisation
• Open Source Software: advantages and disadvantages• Some open source software examples• Gettex system: files and standards (POT, PO, MO)
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III.- Didactic materials design
• Collaborative platforms: • POOTLE: http://pootle.locamotion.org/ • TRANSIFEX: https://www.transifex.com/ • POEDIT: http://www.poedit.net/
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III.- Didactic materials design
• Hands-on session: Localising PO files• To understand how localisation works in many open
source projects• To understand what a PO file is and its main
characteristics• To be able to collaborate in the localisation of an open
source project in the future
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III.- Didactic materials design
• Hands-on session: An introduction to crowdsourcing and collaborative platforms
• To be aware of the most popular crowdsourcing initiatives in localisation/translation (Google in your language, Amazon Mechanical Turk)
• To be aware of the most popular translation/localisation collaborative platforms (Launchpad)
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III.- Didactic materials design• To familiarize students with some non-profit organizations
currently working on crowdsourcing and social localisation• Kiva, Translators without Borders• PerMondo:
• Seminar to introduce this organization and its social translation initiatives (November 2012)
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III.- Didactic materials design• The Rosetta Foundation
• Reinchard Schäler, February 2013• “Why Localisation is important!”• “Localización social – Globalización para los
ciudadanos”
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IV.- Conclusions
• Crowdsourcing as a new trend in translation and localisation: translation students need to be aware of theoretical and practical aspects (technical competence)
• Motivation to get involved in different projects
• ‘Collaboration’ with other subjects to develop collaborative translation and localisation (Audovisual Translation):
Developing technological competences through collaborative translation (Degree of Modern Languages and Translation, University of Alcalá)
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References• European Commission. 2012. Studies on Translation and
Multilingualism Crowdsourcing Translation.
• O´Brien, S. & Schäler, R. 2010. ‘Next generation Translation and Localization: Users are taking charge’. In Translating and the Computer 32, 18-19 Nov 2010, Londres, Reino Unido.
• O´Hagan, M (ed.). 2011. ‘Translation as a Social Activity. Community Translation 2.0’. Linguistica Antverpiensia, 10.
• Permondo. http://www.mondo-lingua.org/initiative.html
• The Rosetta Foundation. http://www.therosettafoundation.org/
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