Volunteering for Translators without Borders
For my first post on the blog, I would like to talk about my experience volunteering for Translators without Borders (TWB). For those of you who are not familiar with TWB, I will briefly explain what they are, and what their mission is. TWB is a US non-profit organization that aims to bridge the language gap in order to facilitate the spread and distribution of humanitarian aid throughout the world. They rely on volunteer professional translators, and they also run translation training programs for some of their volunteers.
I became more familiar with TWB’s work during a Professionalization Talk at the University of Leeds which I attended last year, during my MA studies. This is where I met Sue Fortescue, volunteer manager for TWB, who shared her mantra with us: “Do well by doing good!”. Inspired by her talk, I decided to volunteer as a Project Coordinator for TWB’s Rapid Response Team.
What is the Rapid Response Team (RRT)? The RRT is part of the TWB Words of Relief for the European Refugee Crisis, which aims to provide critical, practical information to refugees in languages such as Arabic and Farsi. The information is translated into Greek as well, in order to ensure that the Greek volunteers can also understand.
What does a Volunteer Project Coordinator do? As a Project Coordinator, you need to ensure that the English articles are assigned to Farsi, Arabic and Greek translators and proofreaders. Since quality is of utmost importance, each text needs to be proofread before it is delivered. This means that time is of the essence, especially since most texts must be delivered by the end of the day. A Project Coordinator’s best friends are Skype and Google Documents. Other tools that are used by the RRT team are TWB’s Workspace, and Facebook. These tools are used to reach translators and proofreaders, and assign the work to them. After the translators and proofreaders finish their assignments, the project coordinators deliver the end product to Internews, who publish the articles on their website News that Moves.
The articles that are being translated through this project include weather information, news about clashes or protests, or useful information about refugee centres and assistance. This is why volunteering for TWB is rewarding and makes you feel like you are part of a project that is truly making a difference. You can really feel that you are “doing well by doing good”, by allowing people access to basic yet crucial information in their mother tongues.
How can you volunteer? If you are considering volunteering for TWB, visit: http://translatorswithoutborders.org/volunteers/. To volunteer as a Project Coordinator, you do not need professional translation experience, you just need enthusiasm and a desire to do good. It is a great way of helping out, while developing transferrable skills which are essential for the translation industry. So, whether you’re studying for an MA, or you are just looking for a volunteering opportunity in the translation industry, get in touch with the lovely people at Translators without Borders!
