Appen is pleased to announce that we have received a 2019 Donor Award from Translators Without Borders (TWB). The award is part of TWB’s annual Access to Knowledge award program, which honors individuals and organizations who donate their time, passion, and skills to make sure people around the world have access to knowledge in a language and format they understand. The Donor Award acknowledges significant financial or in-kind contributions that help TWB achieve its mission. Appen provided in-kind translation support, one of several initiatives where Appen has partnered with TWB as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.
In 2018, Access to Knowledge winners coordinated the translation of principles against sexual exploitation and abuse into 100 languages, translated over 150,000 life-changing words, and led language data collection in Bangladesh. TWB is specifically recognizing the Appen team for the transcription and Kurmanji-to-English translation services it provided for 40 hours of interviews with Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS. The purpose of the interviews was to assess refugees’ mental health and attitudes towards prospects of peace and justice responsibility. The interviews dealt with very sensitive content which presented a unique challenge to the team, but TWB states that “every person who worked on the project demonstrated remarkable nerve and commitment.”
Despite the challenging nature of the data, the translators were very enthusiastic about working toward such a good cause. Two translators completed the majority of the work themselves, so Appen has awarded them separate certificates of appreciation: Nechirvan Jawzal and Rony Sheridan-Hewlett. Nechirvan was specifically commended by TWB for top-quality translations and for going above and beyond: Answering language-specific questions from the client and helping with editing.
Appen has worked with TWB on a number of French-to-English translation projects, but TWB is especially excited about the breadth of our language experience: Over 180 languages! This means we’re able to support both common languages as well as lesser-known dialects such as Kurmanji. Through our CSR program, we have translated over 150,000 words: Interviews with refugees, voiceover scripts, medical/health and safety guidelines for a wide range of TWB partners:
- Concern Worldwide (EN>FR translation)
- Refucomm (EN>Kurdish translation)
- British Red Cross (EN>FR translation)
- Save the Children USA (EN>FR translation)
- Médecins Sans Frontières Brussels (EN>FR translation)
- Action contre la faim (EN>FR translation)
- The Emergency Nutrition Network (EN>FR translation)
- Plan International Nigeria (EN>FR translation)
- CDAC Network
- Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
With the total number of words translated for TWB initiatives exceeding 150,000, Appen is proud of our contributions thus far and excited to continue our work with the organization, providing high-quality transcription and translation services to help further the common good. In the future, the team hopes to expand its expertise in low-resource languages such as Fijian vernacular, Kazakh, Nepali, Sorani, Haitian Creole, Tamil, and Zulu.
