STAR UK announces sponsorship of Translators without Borders
Woking, Surrey (PRWEB UK) 17 October 2013 -- STAR UK, a provider of language translation services to business, part of the global STAR Group, is pleased to announce that we have pledged our support to help humanitarian translations reach more people around the world by becoming a sponsor of Translators without Borders.
Since the devastating Haiti earthquake in 2010, Translators without Borders has greatly increased the amount of humanitarian translations for aid groups, not just to those working in Haiti, but to NGOs, or non-governmental organizations, working across the globe in disaster relief, healthcare and education.
In fact, since the creation of the fully automated Translators without Borders Workspace, powered by ProZ.com, the organization has more than tripled its annual output of translations. The workspace automatically links approved non-profits to vetted professional translator volunteers who take care of key translation projects. The Translators without Borders Workspace will help the organization reach its goal of 10 million words translated per year.
Translators without Borders also handles many special projects. In 2011, Translators without Borders began a collaborative effort to translate the 80 most important medical articles on English Wikipedia into other languages. This project will greatly enhance the number of people who can get vital information in their own language.
In Africa, Translators without Borders is growing language capacity by training new translators, starting in Kenya. Millions of Kenyans only speak Swahili. Unfortunately, the vital health information that is available in Kenya is often in only English or French. To counter this, Translators without Borders set up a training center in Kenya where local Kenyans are intensively trained to become professional translators. This will greatly reduce the problem.
The financial support provided by sponsors is critical to sustaining and growing the organization, particularly in under-resourced languages. "In the course of our work, we've become aware of a huge global need, which is for people in poor countries to be able to access global knowledge in their own language," explains Lori Thicke, co-founder of Translators without Borders.
"According to UNICEF more people die from lack of knowledge than from diseases. People in poor countries are simply unable to access global knowledge in a language they understand. Mobile technology may be bringing this knowledge closer to the bottom three billion, but we still need to bridge the ‘language last mile’. Translators without Borders is delivering this much needed help by developing a scalable training program so that more people will be able to access the knowledge they need in a language they understand."
Commenting on STAR UK’s decision to become a sponsor, Steve Smith, General Manager, said: “Several members of our in-house team are already volunteer translators for Translators without Borders and we are delighted to add our name to the roster of companies that support the excellent work they do. It’s all too easy to focus only on the business potential of languages and forget the vital part they play in the lives of ordinary people.”
Lori Thicke adds: “We are incredibly grateful to STAR UK for this assistance, which is critical to enable us, in turn, to support more humanitarian work around the globe.”
The financial support provided by sponsors is critical to sustaining and growing Translators without Borders.
STAR UK Ltd is proud to be supporting Translators without Borders in this work.
About Translators without Borders
Translators without Borders envisions a world where knowledge knows no language barriers. The US-based nonprofit provides people access to vital knowledge in their language by connecting nonprofit organizations with a professional community of volunteer translators, building local language translation capacity, and raising awareness of language barriers. Originally founded in 1994 in France as Traducteurs sans Frontières (now its sister organization), Translators without Borders translates more than five million words per year. In 2012, the organization established a Healthcare Translators’ Training Center in Nairobi, Kenya. For more information and to volunteer or donate, please visit: http://www.translatorswithoutborders.org or follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/TranslatorsWB.
About STAR UK
STAR UK is a member of the STAR Group, Europe’s largest private language service provider. STAR’s proven combination of software solutions and translation services enables companies across the globe to access new markets and win customers.
For more information on STAR UK, please visit http://www.star-uk.co.uk/.
Steve Smith, http://www.star-uk.co.uk, +44 1483541307, [email protected]
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