Coming Soon: TED Open Translation Project
TED has already proven itself an invaluable resource in the English-speaking world. Now it's about to unveil a new project that will catapult its archive of mind-bending talks to a new global public.
Through the TED Open Translation Project, volunteers will be able to translate approved transcripts of their favorite talks into their native language. Approved translations will become available to the public – free as always – as subtitles to accompany each talk.
TED worked with partners at dotSUB, a user-generated, wiki-type tool for translating subtitles for documentaries and other video content, to develop the Open Translation Project. The crowd-sourced model allows TED to continue its support of open-source solutions. But more importantly, says June Cohen of TED Media, it will extend the reach of the project beyond "a handful of major languages … This approach is scalable, and -- importantly -- allows speakers of less-dominant languages an equal opportunity to spread ideas within their communities and in their native tongues."
When the project launches officially a few weeks from now, the site will include 250 complete translations by volunteer translators representing more than 30 languages.
The newly published transcripts of each talk – available in English and any language that volunteers have added -- will also make it possible for the first time to search for specific words and phrases within a TEDTalk.
