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  • Essay / The Pros and Cons of Crowdsourced Translation

    The Internet and social media have brought people together, laying the foundation for new ways of collaborating. One of them is participatory translation. A practice of engagement that brings together talents from all backgrounds for a common goal. This type of crowdsourcing is typically web-based, so members can post, edit, and share potential translations in the most convenient way possible. As a student translator, it is always exciting to learn about new technologies and teamwork in the field of translation studies. Instead of independent work, people now share the workload and have managed to provide incredible, simple, fast and cheap translations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the 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 involves “taking work traditionally done by a designated employee and outsourcing it to an undefined, usually large, group of people in the form of an open call,” using Internet. Thanks to this definition, we know that a crowd could come together to complete complex projects in a way that would never have been possible in large companies. Translation has traditionally been kept in a silo, where only professional translators carry out the work. Crowdsourcing opens this silo, allowing everyone, whether amateurs, volunteers, students or anyone with a great interest in translation, but who has never had the opportunity to do so, to get involved in a project of translation. A good example would be Ted, an industry that invites volunteers to translate original transcriptions. During the translation process, volunteers are free to consult online materials as well as the knowledge of their peers in hopes of providing "a diverse patchwork of quality, adequacy" and usability. A special team of more experienced volunteers is assembled to review, edit and modify the final translation before publication. With our growing connectivity, it's easier than ever for individuals to contribute collectively, whether with ideas or expertise. Additionally, participatory translation initiatives have also served as “training environments” for beginners to improve their techniques. Popular use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs allows users to register, create a profile and share their daily activities "from practical campaigns to last night's dinner". Even though English was considered a dominated language on the Internet, today it only represents 53.2% of its content. In 2008, Facebook launched its first translation project open to the public. The company realized that to achieve internalization, it needed 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 expensive process. With this in mind, Facebook encouraged all users, including my brother and his friends, to participate in this colossal project. At the time, around 2,400 sentences had to be translated for Facebook to be available in another language. To make the translation process easier for users, the company has created a translation application on the Facebook platform. Once the application is installed and activated, each word to be translated is highlighted. People can.