Yesterday, September 30th, was International Translation Day – a day to celebrate the importance of translation in our lives, and the translators who make that work possible!
In celebration of #InternationalTranslationDay, we collected stories from our staff about translated videos that had a significant impact on their lives and understanding of translation. We posted them throughout the day on our Twitter feed, and here is a compilation.
Our product manager Kenzie shared some of her favorite Thai commercials.
“To me, storytelling is one of the basic means of human communication, it allows us to understand each other and help each other. I love to see stories well-told. These two Thai commercials do an amazing job of telling inspiring stories, each with such a beautiful message. The videography is so well-done that one could understand the ideas and emotions without words, but the few words and subtitles they do include tie it all together beautifully.”
Rieann, our Project Manager for support, interpreted International Translation Day a little differently. Rieann focused on how subtitles and translated videos have helped her to learn new languages and expand her horizons.
Fragile Plane on the California Academy of Sciences Team on Amara.
“It’s awesome to see science based content translated into so many languages on Amara. Having translations in languages I’m learning is such a bonus and helps keep my language skills improving.”
Project Manager Sebastiao talked about how translation had helped him connect to movements and others organizing around the similar issues.
“Among these few views there were many important people with whom I could learn and share so much precious information about the movement fighting for the recognition of Neurodiversity and the rights of all neurodiverse people.”
Last, but not least, Jenny, our On-Demand Operations Manager, talked about how a translated web series helped her connect with her own background.
“I love this series [Foreigner in China] because, thanks to their English and Chinese subtitles, I have been able to improve my Chinese language, and understand better the stories that are told by foreigners living in China. The way how these foreigners have learned to speak the language and adjust to the Chinese culture is my inspiration. The subtitles in this series has helped me greatly with my language learning, as well as to understand the content, which gives me a small glimpse of modern China, the country of my ancestors, and which I dream to visit one day. Without subtitles, I don’t think I would have been able to enjoy or learn so much from this series.”
At Amara, what we love about translation is how diverse it is. You can see from these stories that we at Amara all come to translation from different backgrounds and have different ideas about how translation impacts our lives. But the unifying theme through these different reflections on translation, is the importance of translation in helping to expand our world and build connections with others.
Happy International Translation Day!
